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LET  HIM  FIRST  BE  A  MAN 


AND 


OTHER     ESSAYS 


CHIEFLY  RELATING  TO 

EDUCATION    AND   CULTURE 


BY 

W:    H:  VENABLE    LL.D. 

AUTHOR  OF  "THE  TEACHER'S  DREAM"   "BEGINNINGS  OF  LITERARY  CULTURE 
IN  THE  OHIO  VALLEY  "  "  HISTORY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  "  ETC. 


)STON 
LEE    AND    SHEPARD    PUBLISHERS 

10   MILK   STREET 


COPYRIGHT,  1892,  BY  LEE  AND  SHEPARD 


All  Rights  Reserved 


LET  HIM  FIRST  BE  A  MAN 


PREFACE 


IT  is  hoped  that  this  book  will  encourage  teachers, 
especially  young  teachers,  and  help  that  large  class 
of  self-helpful  students  who  are  seeking  guidance  in 
the  broad  field  of  general  culture.  The  author  has 
not  attempted  a  formal  statement  of  the  science  or 
philosophy  of  education  ;  many  excellent  treatises 
on  Pedagogy  are  already  at  the  teacher's  hand. 
But  there  is  always  room  for  one  more  volume  of 
educational  essays  dealing  with  the  common  prob- 
lems of  teaching  and  learning,  and  derived  from 
actual  experience  in  school  and  out  of  school.  One 
may  obtain  benefit  from  a  new  statement  of  old 
truth,  or  by  comparing  his  thoughts  with  those  of 
another  who  has  striven,  like  himself,  to  answer 
the  questions,  "  What  is  education  ?  and  Why  do  we 
educate  ?" 

A  glance  at  the  contents  of  the  following  pages 
shows  a  considerable  variety  of  topics,  but  the  miscel- 


IV  PREFACE 

lany  is  not  without  plan.  The  opening  chapters  are 
intended  to  depict  the  potential  man,  the  ideal  being 
which  it  is  the  highest  purpose  of  education  to  per 
feet.  On  the  teacher's  conception  of  the  worth  and 
dignity  of  human  nature,  and  equally  on  the  learner's 
self-respect,  and  reverence  for  the  divine  workman- 
ship which  makes  his  body  the  "quintessence  of 
dust,"  and  his  soul  "the  infinite  in  faculties,"  — 
on  these  depend  the  processes  of  that  nurture  and 
training  which  fit  men  to  live  the  best  and  most 
useful  life. 

After  discussing,  in  brief,  the  nature  and  educa- 
bility  of  man,  and  the  motive  of  all  education,  the 
writer  ventures  to  make  a  few  suggestions  concern- 
ing the  special  function  of  schools  in  the  vast  work 
of  general  education,  and  touches  slightly  upon 
methods  of  government  and  instruction,  under  the 
.inclusive  heading  "  Schoolmastery."  Then  follow 
brief  essays  on  the  essential  elements  of  mental  and 
moral  development,  and  on  the  importance  of  reading 
as  a  means  to  superior  culture.  About  a  third  part 
of  the  volume  is  taken  up  with  studies  in  the  history 
of  education. 

Many  of  the  articles  here  printed  were  addressed 
originally  to  popular  audiences  or  Teachers'  Insti- 
tutes, and  might  with  propriety  be  called  familiar 


PREFACE  V 

"Talks,"  rather  than  essays.  Some  of  the  pieces 
have  appeared  in  "Education,"  the  "Ohio  Educa- 
tional Monthly,"  "Intelligence,"  and  other  journals. 
The  dominant  purpose  of  the  several  essays  and  of 
the  collection  is  to  oppose  the  deadening  influence  of 
mere  mechanical  routine  in  the  training  of  children, 
whether  in  school  or  at  home.  The  "  Procrustean 
bedstead,"  the  "cramming-machine,"  the  "conser- 
vative groove,"  still  find  a  place  in  the  generality  of 
schoolhouses,  and  there  is  still  need  of  abolitionists 
to  urge  their  removal. 

The  incentive  that  led  to  the  making  of  this  book 
is  the  same  that  induced  the  author  to  compose  the 
several  sections  originally,  — the  wish  to  be  of  some 
service,  even  the  slightest,  to  the  vital  cause  of  pop- 
ular education.  The  melioration  of  the  children  of 
the  people  is  the  reform  that  underlies  all  other 
reforms. 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

I.     LET  HIM  FIRST  BE  A  MAN i 

1.  The  End  and  the  Means I 

2.  The  Foundation  and  the  Superstructure  ....  6 

3.  Cui  Bono? 9 

4.  Young  America  at  School 12 

5.  What  is  a  Man? 15 

II.     THE  PARAGON  OF  ANIMALS .  18 

III.  FUNCTIONS  OF  THE  PREPARATORY  SCHOOL     ....  36 

IV.  SCHOOLMASTERY 43 

1.  Guide,  Shepherd,  and  Pilot 43 

2.  What  the  Schoolmaster  masters 44 

3.  Teaching  and  Governing 45 

4.  Persuasion  and  Force 46 

5.  Doctor  Arnold's  Way 49 

6.  How  not  to  govern  a  School 50 

7.  The  True  Story  of  "  Rusty  Nails  " 52 

8.  The  Ideal  Teacher 53. 

V.    NATURE  THE  SOVEREIGN  SCHOOLMISTRESS     ....  61 

VI.     TOPICS  OF  THE  TIME 71 

1.  "  Experiments  of  Light  " 71 

2.  Both  Sides  are  Right 74 

3-  Disco 77 

4.  Natural  Ability  plus  Education 79 


Vlll  CONTENTS 

VI.     TOPICS  OF  THE  TIME  {continued). 

PAGE 

5.  The  Quick  Coal 80 

6.  Does  it  Educate  ? 82 

7.  The  Beginnings  of  Education 84 

f  8.   Education  and  Temperance 85 

9.  Universal  Education 87 

VII.     BOOKS  AND  READING 91 

VIII.     UNCLASSIFIED  TRIFLES 105 

1.  Stray  Thoughts 105 

2.  Woman's  Rights 112 

3.  Past,  Present,  and  Future     . 112 

4.  Progress  of  Civilization 113 

5.  Use  of  the  Ideal 114 

6.  Combinations  vs.  Individuals 115 

7.  A  Collection  of  Men 115 

8.  Education  Out  of  School 116 

9.  The  Old-Fashioned  Elocutionist 118 

10.  "It's  Books" 123 

11.  The  Cultured  Snob 127 

12.  Natural  Science  Teaching  in  the  Common  Schools  .  128 

13.  How  to  say  It 131 

IX.     STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  EDUCATION       ....  135 

1.  Confucius 135 

2.  Education  in  Ancient  Greece 153 

3.  Plato  and  Education 157 

4.  Aristotle  and  Education 168 

5.  Quintilian 179 

6.  Goethe  as  an  Educational  Light 195 

X.  THE  UTILITY  OF  THE  IDEAL 213 

XI.  SYLVAN  MYTHOLOGY,  POETRY,  AND  SENTIMENT    .     .  235 
XII.     WILLIAM  DOWNS  HENKLE  —  Memorial  Address       .     .  246 


"  The  discipline  of  Slavery  is  unknown 
Amongst  us,  —  hence  the  more  do  we  require 
The  discipline  of  virtue ;  order  else 
Cannot  subsist,  nor  confidence,  nor  peace. 
Thus,  duties  rising  out  of  good  possessed, 
And  prudent  caution  needful  to  avert 
Impending  evil,  do  alike  require 
That  permanent  provision  should  be  made 
For  the  whole  people  to  be  taught  and  trained. 
So  shall  licentiousness  and  black  resolve 
Be  rooted  out,  and  virtuous  habits  take 
Their  place  ;  and  genuine  piety  descend, 
Like  an  inheritance,  from  age  to  age. 

Change  wide  and  deep,  and  silently  performed, 
This  land  shall  witness ;  and,  as  days  roll  on, 
Earth's  universal  frame  shall  feel  th'  effect, 
Even  till  the  smallest  habitable  rock, 
Beaten  by  lonely  billows,  hears  the  songs 
Of  humanized  society  ;  and  bloom 
With  civil  arts,  and  send  their  fragrance  forth, 
A  grateful  tribute  to  all-ruling  Heaven. 
From  culture,  universally  bestowed, 
Expect  these  mighty  issues  ;  from  the  pains 
And  quiet  care  of  unambitious  schools 
Instructing  simple  childhood's  ready  ear, 
Thence  look  for  these  magnificent  results  !  " 

WORDSWORTH.     The  Excursion,  Book  IX. 


ESSAYS 

i 

LET  HIM  FIRST  BE  A  MAN 

I.     THE  END  AND  THE  MEANS 

OF  many  passages  that  shine  like  gold  in  a  cabinet 
of  1'ess  precious  ores  in  Rousseau's  celebrated  Essay 
on  Education,  the  following  is  one  :  "  According  to 
the  order  of  nature,  men  being  equal,  their  common 
vocation  is  the  profession  of  humanity  ;  and  whoever 
is  well  educated  to  discharge  the  duty  of  a  man  can- 
not be  badly  prepared  to  fill  up  any  of  those  offices 
that  have  a  relation  to  him.  It  matters  little  to  me 
whether  my  pupil  be  designed  for  the  army,  the  pul- 
pit, or  the  bar.  Nature  has  destined  us  to  the  offices 
of  human  life  antecedent  to  our  destination  concern- 
ing society.  To  live  is  the  profession  I  would  teach 
him.  When  I  have  done  with  him,  it  is  true  he  will 
be  neither  a  soldier,  a  lawyer,  nor  a  divine.  LET 
HIM  FIRST  BE  A  MAN  ;  he  will,  on  occasion,  as  soon 
become  anything  else  that  a  man  ought  to  be  as 
any  person  whatever.  Fortune  may  remove  him 

i 


2  ESSAYS 

from  one  rank  to  another  as  she  pleases,  he  will  be 
always  found  in  his  place." 

The  doctrine  thus  proclaimed  by  Rousseau  had 
been  announced  centuries  before  by  Plato,  who  says 
in  the  sixth  book  of  the  Laws  that  "  a  nurture  per- 
fectly correct  ought  to  show  itself  able  to  render 
both  bodies  and  souls  the  most  beautiful  and  best." 
What  is  such  a  nurture  but  adequate  preparation  for 
the  "profession  of  humanity"?  This  comprehen- 
sive view  of  the  purpose  of  education  is  always  held 
by  those  who  march  in  the  van  of  civilization.  It 
is  a  general  truth  to  inscribe ,  on  the  ever-advan- 
cing banner  of  educational  progress.  Like  the 
gospel  of  religion,  it  must  be  preached  anew  in 
every  age. 

The  child  is  born  into  the  world  ignorant,  feeble, 
plastic,  —  a  mere  lump  of  organized  protoplasm,— 
yet  living  and  endowed  with  germs  of  all  human 
powers,  —  a  potential  man.  His  education  begins 
with  his  first  breath.  His  parents  are  his  primary 
educators  ;  they  must  nurture  his  body  and  nour- 
ish his  mind.  The  cradle  is  the  first  room  in  the 
school  of  life.  The  Kindergarten  of  home  is  the  real 
preparatory  department.  Unless  the  child's  early 
training,  and  the  parents'  ideas  of  the  purpose  of 
education,  be  correct,  later  teachers  must  work  at 
great  disadvantage.  The  father  and  mother  give 
their  child  his  constitution,  his  health,  his  habits. 
They  call  forth  and  direct  the  first  motions  of  his 
mind,  foster  his  tastes,  set  up  standards  for  him,  fur- 


LET    HIM    FIRST    BE    A    MAN  3 

nish  his  surroundings,  determine  his  associations, 
advise  him,  control  him.  How  important,  then,  that 
parents  adhere  to  the  best-known  principles  of  edu- 
cation in  dealing  with  their  children,  and  in  relations 
with  those  to  whom  their  children  are  intrusted  after 
they  leave  the  nursery  for  the  schoolroom.  Right 
systems  of  education  will  be  adopted  by  teachers  if 
right  demands  are  made  by  parents.  Popular  opinion 
determines  the  character  of  the  schools.  The  best 
and  wisest  teacher  in  the  world  cannot  bring  his  good- 
ness and  wisdom  to  the  proof  when  the  prevailing 
sentiment  is  against  him,  or  not  with  him.  Superior 
teachers  need  sympathy  in  their  purposes  and  aspi- 
rations more  than  they  need  co-operation  in  the 
actual  discharge  of  their  duties. 

The  vital  question  is  not  what  books  to  use,  or 
what  subjects  to  teach,  or  what  classes  to  form,  but 
what  is  the  ultimate  object  of  teaching?  What  do 
we  want  to  do  with  or  for  boys  and  girls  ?  What  is 
education  ? 

"  Give  our  children  a  practical  education  "  is  the 
exhortation  of  many  parents  ;  and  little  miss  and 
master  in  the  infant  grade  "  tackle  "  the  schoolma'am 
with,  "What  good  '11  it  do  us?"  The  schoolma'am 
does  not  easily  give  little  miss  and  master  a  satis- 
factory answer  to  their  question.  Nor  does  the 
superintendent  find  it  possible  to  explain  the  utility 
of  the  course  of  study  to  the  anxious,  inquiring 
father,  especially  if  the  father  be  pertinaciously 
practical. 


4  ESSAYS 

What  good?  What  use?  Cui  bono?  The  old 
stumbling-block. 

Suppose  we  permit  the  school-boy  to  erase  from 
his  schedule  of  studies  all  subjects  that  appear  to 
him  useless,  how  much  is  left  ?  The  boy  cannot 
know  what  he  needs.  The  chances  are  he  is  prej- 
udiced against  all  studies  that  tax  his  pleasure 
and  freedom.  He  obeys  the  call  of  his  blood,  not 
the  sedate  voices  of  forethought  and  wisdom.  If 
our  extremely  practical  philosopher  advises  the  lad, 
the  advice  and  argument  may  be  something  like 
this  :  "  Of  what  advantage  is  it  to  study  geography? 
The  ignorant  emigrant  is  carried  over  the  sea  as 
safely  and  swiftly  as  are  Ritter  and  Guyot  with  all 
their  grand  conceptions  of  continents  and  seas. 
Tea  comes  to  us  from  China  whether  we  know 
where  China  is  or  not.  And  what  real  benefit  can 
you  get  from  grammar  ?  So  long  as  you  make  your 
meaning  understood,  who  cares  whether  verbs  agree 
with  their  subjects  or  not,  or  that  there  are  such 
things  as  verbs  and  subjects  ?  Again,  why  waste 
time  in  learning  the^+j/  of  algebra?  Who  keeps 
accounts  in  algebra  ?  Will  reading  history  provide 
you  food,  or  pay  debts,  or  cure  cholera  ?  Why,  even 
reading,  writing,  and  arithmetic  are  of  very  little 
practical  use.  You  will  generally  hear  the  news 
told,  and  may  avoid  the  trouble  and  expense  of  a 
daily  paper.  Your  *  mark  '  will  secure  legal  rights. 
You  may  calculate  interest  and  add  up  sums  in  your 
head.  Common  sense  is  all  the  education  you  need. 


LET    HIM    FIRST    BE    A    MAN  5 

My  father  never  went  to  school  a  day,  and  yet  he 
became  a  rich  man.  Learning  spoils  a  man  for 
business/' 

Such  is  the  absurd  logic,  pushed  to  the  extreme, 
of  a  certain  class  of  self-styled  practical  men,  when 
they  talk  about  education.  Nor  is  our  imaginary 
case  much  overdrawn.  There  are  hundreds  of  well- 
to-do  men  and  women,  of  average  intelligence,  who 
act  as  if  they  really  esteem  education  in  the  abstract 
as  a  sort  of  evil,  or,  at  best,  an  unnecessary  good. 
They  seek  schooling  for  their  children,  not  from  a 
conscious  belief  that  schooling  is  in  itself  valuable, 
like  money,  and  land,  and  office,  and  respectable 
family  connection,  but  because  custom  compels  them 
to  send  their  boys  and  girls  to  school.  They  seem 
to  begrudge  the  time  and  money  spent  in  education. 
And,  therefore,  cheap  and  rapid  transit  through 
schools  is  much  in  demand.  If  thorough  education 
takes  time  and  labor,  let  us  have  a  superficial  educa- 
tion that  looks  like  the  genuine  article.  Walnut  and 
mahogany  are  expensive,  —  will  not  veneer  answer 
every  practical  purpose  ?  veneer,  or  even  paint,  in 
imitation  of  the  true  grain  ? 

The  end  of  education  is,  indeed,  practical,  but  the 
means  to  that  end  are  not  simple  and  easy.  The 
making  of  a  child  into  a  complete  MAN  is  a  process 
requiring  time,  skill,  science,  and  wisdom.  The  most 
use/id  knowledge,  and  the  most  valuable  process  of 
education,  furnish  facilities  to  ward  the  boy  in  his 
progress  toward  ideal  manhood. 


6  ESSAYS 

2.    THE    FOUNDATION    AND    THE    SUPERSTRUCTURE. 

The  ardor  of  professional  teachers  is  perpetually 
checked  by  the  popular  clamor  for  easy  education, 
simplified  education  —  education  that  anybody  may 
obtain  without  study  and  use  without  skill.  The 
call  is  for  a  commodity  that  no  man  can  supply — a 
commodity  that  does  not  exist.  Education  is  not 
an  article  that  one  may  buy  at  a  shop  and  carry 
away  in  a  basket.  The  training  and  storing  of  the 
mind  require  a  long  process.  It  is  a  vital,  cumulative, 
continuous  effort.  The  results  of  education  —  the 
fruits  —  cannot  precede  the  conditions  that  produce 
them.  First  the  bud,  then  the  blade,  then  the  ear. 
The  applications  of  power  imply  —  power.  Let  the 
boy  become  a  man,  mentally,  before  expecting"  him 
to  do  a  man's  mental  work.  The  whole  object  of  the 
teacher  should  be  to  train  the  man  ;  not  the  artisan, 
the  merchant,  the  professor.  To  train  the  whole 
man  —  not  the  hand  alone,  the  head  alone,  the  heart 
alone. 

Nature  demands  of  the  faculties  disinterested 
activity.  She  is  exacting,  and  will  not  pay  until 
the  work  is  done.  The  student  shall  not  know  the 
joy  of  victory  until  he  conquers.  He  shall  not 
overcome  the  hard  problem  until  he  has  wrestled 
and  strained  with  it.  He  shall  not  express  a 
thought  clearly  before  he  has  conceived  it  clearly. 
He  shall  not  become  a  scholar  without  the  proba- 
tion of  the  student.  He  shall  not  be  master  except 


LET    HIM    FIRST    BE    A    MAN  / 

through  the  tasks  of  apprenticeship.  He  shall  not 
be  competent  to  do  independent  and  special  duties 
until  he  has  enfranchised  his  faculties  by  discipline, 
and  learned  to  distinguish  the  particular  from  the 
general.  The  school  catalogues  propose  to  fit  boys 
for  the  duties  of  life.  This  is  the  legitimate  work 
of  preparatory  schools,  academies,  and  colleges. 
They  are  introductory  to  life  itself,  not  to  stations 
in  life  —  not  to  vocations.  There  is  necessity  of 
commercial  schools  for  mercantile  training,  law 
schools  for  lawyers,  medical  schools  for  physicians, 
normal  schools  for  teachers,  theological  schools  for 
divines  ;  but  before  all  there  is  need  of  educational 
schools  for  men  and  women.  The  special  school  is 
supplementary  or  complementary  to  the  general 
school.  Neither  is  a  full  substitute  for  the  other, 
though  the  training  for  life  is  the  foundation  of  any 
training  for  a  living.  The  person  who  is  without 
the  developed  power  that  the  fundamental  training 
of  his  faculties  gives,  cannot  make  good  use  of  the 
opportunities  afforded  by  schools  devoted  to  special 
objects.  Every  building,  be  it  designed  for  resi- 
dence or  factory,  castle  or  cathedral,  requires  a  firm 
foundation.  Solid  stone  walls  first,  deep  laid  and 
level.  This  lower  work  is  much  the  same  for  all 
houses. 

Well-grown  wood  makes  reliable  timber,  and  a 
stick  of  timber  may  be  turned  to  various  uses  ;  it 
may  be  fashioned  into  a  mast,  a  beam,  a  piano,  a 
pulpit,  an  exquisite  carving.  But  it  must  become 


8  ESSAYS 

timber  first.  Sap-wood  cannot  be  wrought  into  dur- 
able forms.  Time  must  elaborate  the  tissues  of  the 
tree. 

Education  in  school  is  the  building  of  basement 
walls  —  it  is  the  growing  of  sound  timber  —  it  is  the 
confirming  of  tissue,  physical,  mental,  moral.  The 
child  must  be  educated  because  he  is  a  man  —  to- 
morrow. He  must  be  educated  simply  because  he 
can  be  educated  ;  because  it  is  the  nature  of  man  to 
improve  by  culture.  As  Ruskin  epigrammatically 
says,  "There  is  an  education  which  in  itself  is 
advancement  in  life." 

This  education,  though  it  does  not  aim  to  fit  men 
for  any  station,  goes  far  to  fit  them  for  all  stations. 
But  not  by  special  training  for  particular  vocations. 
As  John  Stuart  Mill  puts  it,  "  Education  makes  a 
man  a  better  shoemaker,  but  not  by  teaching  him  to 
make  shoes."  Is  this  a  hard  saying?  Cannot  our 
practical  philosophers  see  that  education  must  edu- 
cate before  it  can  claim  to  have  benefited  its  subjects  ? 
What  is  it  that  teachers,  books,  schools,  studies, 
recitations,  examinations,  gymnasia,  should  be  ex- 
pected to  do  for  youth  ?  What  does  education  bestow  ? 

We  answer,  education  gives  general  increase  of 
power  —  discrimination,  versatility,  command.  It 
gives  each  faculty  habitual  exercise  of  its  function.  No 
one  knows  his  destiny, — what  he  maybe  required  to 
become,  do,  or  endure,  —  and  if  he  neglects  any  power 
of  body  or  mind  it  may  be  the  very  power  he  will 
have  greatest  need  to  employ  at  some  important 


LET    HIM    FIRST    BE    A    MAN  9 

crisis.  Predominant  talents  become  more  effective 
by  general  training.  Though  Pascal  learns  geometry 
by  intuition,  and  Burns  sings  spontaneously  as  a  bird, 
and  Mozart's  baby  fingers  know,  untaught,  every 
secret  of  the  clavier,  it  does  not  follow  that  education 
is  wasted  on  Pascal,  Burns,  and  Mozart.  The  fine 
nature  is  the  one  most  hurt  by  wrong,  and  most 
benefited  by  right  culture.  The  highest  achieve- 
ments of  genius  depend  somewhat  upon  the  general 
strength  and  health  of  the  faculties,  as  the  perfection 
of  a  flower  depends  upon  the  condition  of  roots, 
branches,  leaves,  and  all  the  other  organs  of  the 
flowering  plant.  Wrong  culture  is  ruinous,  but  right 
culture  invariably  adds  to  the  gifts  of  nature.  Edu- 
cated genius  is  indomitable. 

3.  GUI   BONO  ? 

The  more  complete  and  extensive  a  man's  educa- 
tion, the  more  able  is  he  to  accomplish  whatever  he 
undertakes.  If  he  be  naturally  well  endowed,  and 
then  thoroughly  educated,  failure  can  scarcely  surprise 
him.  Each  part  and  power  of  man  is  educable.  The 
educated  hand  is  strong,  steady,  active,  graceful,  and 
sensitive.  The  educated  eye  is  alert,  telescopic, 
microscopic,  discriminating,  capable  of  many  tasks, 
accomplished  in  many  arts.  The  educated  memory 
is  comprehensive,  unconfused,  accurate,  retentive, 
quick.  The  educated  reason  is  ready,  logical,  tran- 
quil, profound,  masterly.  The  educated  affections 
are  tender,  constant,  vigilant  to  seek  and  do  their 


IO  ESSAYS 

office,  beautiful,  robust.  The  educated  will  is  decisive, 
prompt,  unwavering  —  immovable  in  its  rest,  irresist- 
ible in  its  god-like  motion.  An  educated  man  is  a 
grand  congeries  of  organs  and  forces,  material  and 
spiritual,  working  together  in  health  and  harmony, 
mutually  dependent,  mutually  helpful,  —  many  in 
one, —  subordinate  only  to  Him  who  is  Supreme. 
To  educate  a  man  is  to  give  his  hand,  brain,  and 
heart  their  maximum  life,  power,  and  facility.  "  Know 
thyself  "  is  the  theoretical  end  of  education  ;  — use 
thyself  is  the  practical  end.  The  Orient  said  know 
ami  be :  the  Occident  says  know,  be,  and  do. 

Practical  education!  it  is  not  the  knowledge  of 
crafts,  trades,  and  professions.  It  is  not  that  which 
confers  skill  in  the  use  of  this  or  that  instrument ;  it 
confers  upon  man  the  right  understanding  and  ready 
use  of  himself.  That  is  a  practical  education,  worthy 
of  the  name,  which  enables  a  person  to  maintain 
bodily  health,  strength,  and  comeliness  ;  to  command 
his  own  muscles  and  nerves  ;  to  employ  his  organs 
of  sense  with  accuracy  and  effect  ;  to  adapt  himself 
to  outward  physical  conditions  ;  to  subdue  unruly 
appetites  ;  to  compel  the  material  world  to  yield 
most  benefit  at  least  expense.  That  is  practical  edu- 
cation which  enables  a  man  to  transact  miscellaneous 
business  with  ease  and  despatch  ;  to  preside  with 
dignity  at  the  called  meeting ;  to  perform  the  duty 
of  trustee  or  guardian  ;  to  meet  the  requirements  of 
family  relations  ;  to  plan  a  house  ;  to  choose  a  book  ; 
to  select  a  picture ;  to  derive  profit  or  pleasure  from 


LET    HIM    FIRST    BE    A    MAN  At 

travel.  Practical  education  introduces  a  man!  to 
mankind,  and  acquaints  him  intimately  with  himjelf. 
That  is  practical  education  which  assists  one  tOT*ise 
above  prejudice,  bigotry,  partisanship,  superstition, 
and  conventional  folly  ;  to  estimate  himself  and  others 
with  candor  and  correctness  ;  to  discern  the  signifi- 
cancy  of  actions  and  the  tendency  of  opinions  and 
events  ;  to  sift  the  speech  of  the  demagogue  ;  to  vote 
for  the  right  man  ;  to  advocate  the  best  measure. 
That  is  practical  education  which  educates  a  human 
being  to  think  his  own  way  to  conclusions,  and  to 
express  conclusions  with  forcible  accuracy  ;  to  ask 
and  answer  questions  pertinently  ;  to  generalize  with- 
out vagueness,  and  to  specialize  without  triviality  ; 
to  marshal  his  mental  forces  for  attack  or  defence  in 
a  sudden  emergency  as  an  able  commander  marshals 
his  regiments. 

Yes,  practical  education  should  make  of  each  man 
the  most  that  the  limits  of  his  constitution  will  ad- 
mit. Education,  like  religion,  offers  a  second  birth 
to  the  soul.  A  good  schooling  regenerates  the  intel- 
lect, adding  to  the  natural  man  an  inestimable  growth. 
The  school  is  truly  a  second  mother  to  nourish  youth 
to  manhood.  Let  the  boy  become  a  man.  Then 
will  he  remain  a  man,  not  dwindle  to  a  manikin  nor 
lapse  into  a  brute.  Then  may  he  trust  himself  and 
be  trusted  by  his  fellows.  Then  may  he  master  the 
art  of  living,  having  served  his  rigorous  apprentice- 
ship. Then  may  he  confidently  meet  the  years, 
clasping  their  friendly  hands  as,  one  by  one,  they 


12  ESSAYS 

welcome  him  onward  to  success.  For  education 
helps  to  preserve  body  and  soul  from  functional 
feebleness  and  decay.  One  of  the  sages  of  the 
Talmud  declares  that  "  As  the  wise  grow  old  their 
minds  become  more  substantiated."  When  boys 
and  girls  grow  restive  in  school,  and  over-anxious  to 
escape  the  Discipline  of  study,  they  should  be  reminded 
that  the  acquisitions  of  eighteen  may  prove  the  most 
precious  resource  of  eighty. 

4.    YOUNG    AMERICA    AT    SCHOOL. 

The  American  boy  considers  himself  a  man  at 
about  the  age  of  sixteen.  To  him  the  idea  of  re- 
maining in  school  after  his  voice  begins  to  change 
is  preposterous.  He  will  never  consent  to  squander 
the  prime  of  life  in  humdrum  exercises  with  slate 
and  lexicon.  That  sort  of  thing  is  for  children,  but 
men  of  sixteen  must  be  doing  for  themselves  in  the 
arena  of  actual  life.  There  is  something  pathetically 
ludicrous  in  this  young  American  scheme  of  doing 
for  self.  How  many,  alas!  have  done  for  themselves 
by  engaging  prematurely  in  the  tasks  that  should 
have  followed  practical  education  !  'Tis  a  delusive 
precept  that  urges  youth  to  grasp  frantically  at  the 
forelock  of  Time,  —  a  capillary  remnant  much 
abused.  Time  flies,  says  the  impatient  father  and 
more  impatient  mother,  therefore  our  son  must  fly. 

Let  us  have  a  school  on  wings  to  bear  him  through 
an  aerial  course  of  study.  The  brief  flight  ended, 
the  boy  begins  life.  He  esteems  himself  not  only  a 


LET    HIM    FIRST    BE    A    MAN  13 

gentleman  and  a  scholar,  but  a  man  of  business,  a 
lion  in  society,  a  politician,  a  critic,  a  philosopher. 
He  has  graduated  into  the  self-importance  of  inex- 
perienced ignorance.  He  sits  cross-legged  before 
the  Sunday  newspaper,  sucking  cigarettes  ;  he  has  a 
theory  of  "finance,"  and  talks  ironically  on  the 
"  woman  question;"  he  bluffs  his  seniors  in  con- 
versation, and  indulges  in  a  thousand  other  manly 
performances. 

Young  America  feminine  is  the  counterpart  of  her 
precocious  brother.  She,  too,  is  impatient,  —  even 
more  impatient  of  the  school  restraints,  and  longs 
to  cast  them  off.  She  gets  through  the  seminary 
before  you  supposed  her  through  the  Third  Reader. 
Her  mental  acquisitions  culminate  in  the  graduating 
essay,  —  thrilling  production  !  —  elegant  flower  of 
originality  that  blossoms,  alas  !  only  to  exhaust  the 
parent  stock  which  flowers  so  no  more  forever. 
After  Commencement  all  study  ceases,  all  reading 
drops  excepting  the  lighter  novels  ;  even  the  piano 
lessons  intermit,  like  the  chills  of  a  half-defeated  ague. 
For  is  not  Esmeralda's  education  finished  ?  She 
finished  that  at  school.  And  now  Esmeralda  is 
doing  for  herself.  She  is  practically  educated.  She 
is  accomplished.  She  is  done  for.  She  is  ready  to 
marry. 

The  eagerness  of  parents  for  immediate  results  in 
education  defeats  its  purpose  by  communicating  a 
feverish  restlessness  to  the  youth,  who,  instead  of 
regarding  their  school  duties  as  regular  business  to 


14  ESSAYS 

be  discharged  with  fidelity,  are  constantly  looking 
beyond  their  books  to  an  imaginary  "  actual  life"  of 
business  or  pleasure.  This  illustrates  exactly  the 
national  fault  which  Herbert  Spencer  criticised  when 
he  visited  the  United  States.  He  observed  as  a 
general  fact,  "the  American,  eagerly  pursuing  a 
future  good,  almost  ignores  what  good  the  passing 
day  offers  him ;  and,  when  the  future  good  is  gained, 
he  neglects  that  while  striving  for  some  still  remoter 
good."  The  dreadful  delirium  for  early  participation 
in  what  are  called  the  actual  affairs  of  life  prevents 
all  moderate  living. 

Actual  affairs  !  What  affair  can  be  more  actual 
than  that  of  bringing  youth  to  the  state  of  manhood 
and  womanhood  ?  What  business  can  be  so  impor- 
tant as  the  acquisition  of  power  to  do  business  ?  It 
is  not  education  to  send  children  through  school,  or 
to  send  school  through  them.  The  pupil  must 
absorb  the  school ;  must  digest  and  assimilate  the 
elements  of  knowledge  and  virtue.  This  takes  time. 
The  boys  and  girls  who  "  go  through  "  are  sometimes 
diseducated :  they  lose  their  natural  aptitude  for 
the  very  pursuits  which  schools  profess  to  fit  them 
for.  They  go  through  and  come  out  half-developed 
physically,  not  half-developed  mentally,  without  estab- 
lished moral  principles  or  power  of  self-government  ; 
without  the  strong  armor  of  experience,  or  the  sharp 
weapons  of  discipline,  and,  rushing  into  the  conflict 
for  subsistence,  for  pre-eminence,  for  riches,  for 
happiness,  they  miserably  fail. 


LET    HIM    FIRST   BE   A    MAN  1 5 

5.     WHAT    IS    A    MAN  ? 

"  Let  him  first  be  a  man."  But  what  is  a  man  ? 
There  are  so  many  ideas  and  so  few  ideals.  Some 
one  relates  that  an  English  school-girl  answered  the 
question  "  What  is  the  difference  between  man  and 
^rute  ?  "  by  saying,  "  The  brute  is  an  imperfect  beast ; 
man  is  a  perfect  beast."  Shall  our  education  develop 
such  an  animal  ?  What  kind  of  man  shall  our  Ameri- 
can boy  become  before  he  begins  the  special  duties 
of  life  ?  What  shall  be  his  preconceived  notion  of 
success  ?  To  judge  by  the  Plutonic  standards  which 
many  follow,  success  consists  mainly  in  acquiring 
riches.  "  How  much  is  he  worth  ?  "  means  not  at  all 
what  is  his  intrinsic  value,  but  how  much  money  has 
he  ?  If  the  power  to  pile  up  wealth  is  the  chief  end 
of  school-training,  being  the  chief  end  of  man,  then 
should  the  conscientious  schoolmaster  train  his 
pupil  to  be  sharp  and  shrewd  and  self-seeking.  The 
boys  should  be  taught  to  spell  the  word  educate 
e-d-g-e-u-c-a-t-e,  to  give  edge  to  the  mind.  He  who 
would  cut  his  way  to  the  many-mansioned  place  of 
the  mill  ion  naire  must  be  a  keen  blade.  But  how  if 
the  young  man  don't  want  to  be  a  money-maker  ? 
Perhaps,  like  Matthew  Arnold,  he  would  prefer  the 
heaven  of  "  sweetness  and  light"  to  the  Eden  of 
riches.  When  Arnold  died  his  estate  was  valued  at 
only  a  few  thousand  dollars,  yet  who  will  say  this 
great  lifter-up  of  civilization  was  an  unsuccessful 
man  or  that  he  left  the  world  no  rich  bequest  ? 


16  ESSAYS 

Who  will  say  that  Agassiz,  who  whimsically  said  he 
had  no  time  to  waste  in  making  money,  was  not 
a  winner  in  life's  battle  ?  How  beautifully  other  men 
drew  golden  swords  for  him  that  he  might  pursue 
the  paths  of  science  and  so  aid  mankind !  He 
needs  must  be  about  his  Father's  business.  Or,  take 
the  case  of  Emerson,  who,  though  he  gained  materi^ 
fortune,  did  not  seek  it,  but  devoted  himself  to  amass- 
ing a  capital  of  thoughts  and  dreams,  — a  millionnaire 
of  ideas. 

"  Planter  of  celestial  plants, 
What  he  has  nobody  wants." 

Is  it  the  object  of  our  schools,  or  should  it  be,  to 
make  Vanderbilts,  or  Arnolds,  or  Emersons  ?  or  to 
make  Grants,  or  Gladstones,  or  Beechers  ?  When  we 
say,  "  let  him  first  be  a  man,"  do  we  have  any  particu- 
lar man  or  class  in  view  ?  Not  at  all.  The  shining 
lights  of  the  world  may  serve  to  guide  and  illumin- 
ate all  men ;  but  each  man  must  work  out  his  own 
destiny  self-impelled  and  directed  by  the  inner  lamp 
of  individuality,  or  he  can  never  become  a  "  success  " 
in  any  sense.  It  is  wrong  to  deceive  children  or 
college  students  with  the  belief  that  the  general 
training  they  receive  from  books  and  teachers  will 
make  them  poets,  or  presidents,  or  railroad  kings,  or 
this  or  that.  The  knowledge,  the  study,  the  physi- 
cal exercise,  the  discipline  of  body  and  soul,  which 
the  school  should  afford,  are  to  preserve  an  ideal  type, 
not  to  differentiate  a  unit.  First,  the  typical  man, 
sound  in  body,  sound  in  mind,  endowed  with  the 


LET    HIM    FIRST    BE    A    MAN  I/ 

possessions  which  the  wisdom  of  ancient  authority 
and  the  prescience  of  modern  reason  have  agreed  to 
consider  the  BEST  CULTURE,  and  then  the  practical 
man,  exercising  his  special  talent  according  to  the 
bent  of  his  will. 


1 8  ESSAYS 


II 

THE   PARAGON    OF    ANIMALS 

IN  the  Book  of  Genesis  we  read  that  "  The  Lard 
God  formed  man  of  the  dust  of  the  ground." 

Josephus  says  more  particularly,  that  Adam  was 
made  of  red  clay.  According  to  Grecian  mythology, 
Prometheus  compounded  the  first  man  of  clay  and 
particles  taken  from  various  animals.  The  Moham- 
medans say  that  God  made  Adam  of  seven  handfuls 
of  earth  from  different  depths  and  of  different  col- 
ors, collected  by  the  angel  Azrael.  The  alchemists 
and  astrologers,  in  their  vague  but  bold  speculations, 
wrote  much  of  the  human  body,  the  Microcosm,  or 
little  world,  supposed  to  be  made  up  of  every  ele- 
ment to  be  found  in  the  three  kingdoms  of  nature, 
—  in  the  Macrocosm,  or  great  world.  The  modern, 
ingenious,  and  beautiful  theory  of  evolution  —  recog- 
nizing the  kinship  of  man  to  all  that  lies  below  him 
—  was  it  not  symbolized  and  foreshadowed  by  the 
old  philosophies  ? 

Francis  Bacon,  commenting  curiously  on  the  be- 
lief of  the  alchemists,  remarks  that  "  the  body  of 
man  is  of  all  existing  things  the  most  mixed  and 
the  most  organic,"  and  that  "  this,  indeed,  is  the 
reason  it  is  capable  of  such  wonderful  powers  and 


THE  PARAGON  OF  ANIMALS  19 

faculties ;  .  .  .  abundance  and  excellence  of  powers 
reside  in  mixture  and  composition." 

Science  determines  with  accuracy  the  kind  of 
material  of  which  the  body  is  made.  About  twenty 
simple  substances  have  been  detected  by  the  chemi- 
cal analysis  of  the  human  organism  ;  these  combine 
to  form  between  eighty  and  ninety  physically  differ- 
ent components,  technically  called  "  immediate  prin- 
ciples." The  immediate  principles  make  "  structural 
elements/'  such  as  cells  and  fibres,  and  from  "struc- 
tural elements  "  are  developed  all  the  tissues,  such  as 
fat,  muscle,  nerve,  and  bone.  Of  tissues  are  fash- 
ioned the  organs  of  motion,  digestion,  circulation, 
respiration,  sensation,  generation,  that  are  severally 
called  systems,  and  that  collectively  make  a  complex 
mechanism  named  the  system. 

The  human  body  comprises  about  two  hundred 
bones, : — rods,  plates,  levers,  shields, — deftly  articu- 
lated, bound  together  by  silvery  ligaments ;  four 
hundred  red  elastic  muscles — lithe,  half-reasoning 
laborers  that  serve  King  Brain  ;  veins  pulsing  purple 
currents,  and  arteries  conducting  crimson  streams  — 
the  bright  brooks  that  water  the  Little  World  and 
purify  themselves  in  their  own  swift-running ;  innu- 
merable pearly  nerves — the  telegraphic  wires  of  the 
Microcosm.  Hundreds  of  millions  of  these  wires  run 
from  the  brain  ;  by  their  means  any  part  of  the  "skin 
of  the  hand  is  brought  into  connection  with,  per- 
haps, two  hundred  muscles." 

Within  the  body,  by  mysterious  processes,  bread  is 


2O  ESSAYS 

transformed  into  blood,  and  blood  into  flesh  and 
bone  and  brain.  Fluids  of  subtile  quality  thread  their 
intricate  way  through  a  thousand  "  natural  gates  and 
alleys,"  building  and  destroying  ;  vital  air  permeates 
minutest  vessels,  diffusing  heat  and  energy  to  every 
fibre.  A  man  requires  three  thousand  pounds,  or  a 
ton  and  a  half,  of  food  a  year  to  keep  his  body  in 
repair  and  to  keep  it  alive  and  warm.  Twenty  mil- 
lions of  blood  cells  are  born,  and  as  many  die,  at  each 
beat  of  pulse.  In  the  lungs  are  six  hundred  million 
air  cells,  presenting  an  aggregate  surface  of  seventy- 
four  hundred  square  feet  with  which  oxygen  comes 
in  contact.  We  use  in  a  lifetime  about  one  million 
cubic  feet  of  air  —  enough  to  form  a  solid  air-castle 
a  hundred  feet  square  and  a  hundred  feet  high. 

The  surface  drain-pipes  of  the  body,  the  sweat- 
tubes  of  the  skin,  taken  together,  Carpenter  com- 
putes, are  twenty-eight  miles  in  length!  What 
extents  !  What  forces  !  What  effects  !  Is  the  delicate 
body  of  yonder  slight  school-girl  the  storehouse  of 
so  much  material  ?  Is  it  the  theatre  of  such  enor- 
mous activity  ?  Is  it  such  a  power-hall  ?  Yes  ;  the 
physical  forces  which  we  unconsciously  employ  are 
vastly  greater  than  those  controlled  by  the  will. 

The  stark,  cold  corpse  of  man,  the  cadaver, 
awakens  in  the  reflective  mind  admiration  and 
reverence.  The  surgeon  dissects  it  with  ever-in- 
creasing interest.  He  is  never  done  inspecting  its 
parts,  contemplating  its  structure. 

The    prying    microscope,  the    delicate    knife   and 


THE    PARAGON    OF    ANIMALS  21 

probe,  the  searching  chemical  test  —  all  the  fine 
appliances  of  science,  are  employed  in  the  study  of 
anatomy  and  physiology.  But  how  much  is  im- 
perfectly known,  how  much  undiscovered  in  the 
mysterious  "  little  world,''  even  after  the  incessant 
explorations  of  thousands  of  years  ! 

Regard  the  body  as  divided  into  extremities,  trunk 
and  head ;  or  into  locomotive,  vital  and  thinking 
organs.  It  will  aid  us  to  form  a  conception  of  the 
perfect  and  admirable  structure  of  man,  if  we  make 
a  brief  examination  of  a  single  representative  in 
each  of  the  divisions  named.  No  more  interesting 
member  of  the  locomotive  or  mechanical  group  of 
organs  can  be  named  than  the  hand.  So  suggestive 
a  topic  is  the  hand,  and  so  prolific  in  "  proofs  of 
design,"  that  Sir  Charles  Bell  made  it  the  subject  of 
one  of  the  Bridgewater  Treatises,  devoting  two  hun- 
dred pages  to  an  account  of  its  mechanism  and  vital 
endowment.  Bell  and  many  other  writers  define  the 
hand  as  belonging  exclusively  to  man,  and  from  com- 
paring it  with  the  paw,  or  other  prehensile  instrument 
of  the  brute  creation,  they  deduce  some  of  the  most 
convincing  proofs  of  the  essential  superiority  of  man. 
The  number,  form,  and  adjustment  of  its  parts  ;  the 
freedom,  variety,  and  celerity  of  its  movements  ;  the 
firmness  of  its  texture  ;  the  peculiar  power  it  pos- 
sesses of  resisting  the  injurious  action  of  poisonous 
or  corrosive  substances;  its  exquisite  sensibility, — 
all  tend  to  make  the  hand  the  most  perfect  instru- 
ment conceivable  for  the  purposes  to  which  it  is 
applied. 


22  ESSAYS 

Should  we  survey  the  group  of  organs  termed 
vital,  we  would  at  once  single  out  the  heart  —  that 
"  metropolitan  city  of  the  blood,"  as  it  has  been 
poetically  called.  The  heart  is  strong  and  tough, 
yet  smooth,  soft,  and  elastic.  Its  muscular  coats 
consist  of  several  layers,  each  made  up  of  an 
incredible  number  of  fibres  twisted,  inwound,  and 
woven  together  in  the  most  compact  and  intricate 
way ;  its  partitioned  cavities,  each  of  peculiar  form, 
communicate  by  various  openings  with  one  an- 
other, and  with  the  great  veins  and  arteries ;  its 
variform  valves  open  and  close  with  rhythmic  pre- 
cision that  the  skill  of  mechanic  art  cannot  imitate. 
Even  after  the  brain  and  spinal  cord  have  ceased  to 
act  — when  life  is  extinct  —  the  heart  will  sometimes 
throb.  (Faithful  servant,  beating  the  march  of  life  to 
the  end  —  yea,  and  even  the  funeral  march  of  dead 
life!) 

We  are,  when  in  good  health,  unconscious  of  the 
action  or  presence  of  the  heart  in  our  breast,  so 
gently  and  noiselessly  it  performs  its  unceasing  labor. 
And  what  a  mighty  labor  it  performs!  Small  as  it 
is  and  light,  only  about  five  inches  in  length,  and 
not  more  than  ten  or  eleven  ounces  in  weight,  it  yet 
pumps  eighteen  pounds  of  blood  from  itself  to  itself 
in  less  than  two  minutes. 

Calculations  made  by  Professor  Houghton  demon- 
strate that  "  the  daily  work  of  the  human  heart  is  one 
hundred  and  twenty-four  tons  lifted  through  one  foot." 
In  other  words,  the  heart  exerts  one-third  as  much 


THE  PARAGON  OF  ANIMALS  23 

muscle  power  in  one  day  as  does  a  stout  man  engaged 
in  hard  labor.  Or,  to  employ  another  of  Professor 
Houghton's  illustrations,  "  If  we  suppose  the  heart 
expends  its  entire  force  in  lifting  its  own  weight  ver- 
tically, then  the  total  height  to  which  it  could  lift 
itself  in  one  hour  is  19,754  feet,"  and  that  is  twenty 
times  as  high  as  an  active  pedestrian  can  lift  himself 
in  ascending  a  mountain. 

Sovereign  in  the  highest  group  of  bodily  organs 
is  the  brain.  No  brief  description  can  convey  an 
idea  of  this.  Occupying  the  highest  place  in  the 
structure,  the  dome  of  the  temple,  it  is  the  medium 
through  which  the  soul  acts  and  enjoys.  To  reason 
and  to  will  are  its  supreme  functions.  Chemistry 
and  microscopy  have  labored  diligently  to  dissect, 
magnify,  and  analyze  the  fine  forms,  textures,  and 
substances  of  this  extremely  interesting  organ.  It 
remains  in  many  respects  a  puzzle  to  the  scientific 
investigator.  To  those  unacquainted  with  anatomy, 
a  mere  enumeration  of  the  terms  used  in  a  descrip- 
tion "of  the  brain  is  bewildering.  A  thorough  and 
exact  knowledge  of  the  complicated  organ  itself  is 
only  to  be  acquired  by  years  of  industrious  and  scru- 
tinizing application.  Its  several  parts,  the  medulla 
oblongata,  the  pons,  the  cerebellum,  the  cerebrum, 
are  each  great  chapters  of  a  greater  volume. 

The  brain  is  composed  of  several  peculiar  sub- 
stances, differing  in  consistency,  color,  and  texture. 
It  is  massed  in  hemispheres,  lobes,  and  convolutions; 
and  cut  up  by  ventricles,  fissues,  and  sinuses.  The 


24  ESSAYS 

average  weight  of  the  human  brain  is  three  pounds. 
The  exterior  surface,  owing  to  numerous  convolu- 
tions, presents  an  area  of  about  five  square  feet  to  the 
action  of  the  blood.  Some  physiologists  believe  that 
intellectual  forces  are  generated  upon  this  brain  sur- 
face in  a  manner  similar  to  that  in  which  electric 
currents  are  developed  upon  metallic  plates.  The 
brain  is  hence  regarded  as  a  great  galvanic  battery  of 
thought.  Wilkinson,  in  his  book,  "The  Human  Body 
and  its  Connection  with  Man,"  says  the  brain  "  is  the 
heart  of  hearts,  for  it  receives  from  the  body  and  the 
universe  spiritual  blood,  which  its  cortices  pulse  out 
in  infinite  streams;"  that  "it  is  the  lung  of  lungs, 
for  its  animation  is  the  breathing  of  the  soul  in  the 
all-communicable  ether  ;  "  that  "  it  is  the  stomach  of 
stomachs,  because  of  its  bold  chemistry  in  the  prep- 
aration of  the  food  of  food,  which  is  the  nerve, 
spirit  ;  ay,  and  it  is  the  primal  womb  of  life  and 
thought." 

Consider  the  organs  of  sense,  the  instruments  by 
which  the  mind  receives  the  world. 

The  acuteness  of  sight  and  hearing  is  often  spoken 
of  and  needs  no  illustration.     The  lower  senses  — 
feeling,  taste,  and  smell  —  are  not  so  much  studied 
or  so  well  appreciated  as  their  nobler  sisters.     By  the  ' 
touch,  the  blind  not  only  read,  they  have  been  known 
to  model  portrait  busts,  to  distinguish  genuine  coins 
and  medals  from  spurious  ones,  to  recognize  the  dif- 
ferent specimens   in  a  large   conchological  cabinet, 
and  even  to  distinguish  the  colors  of  woven  fabrics. 


THE  PARAGON  OF  ANIMALS  2$ 

A  blind  man  at  Indianapolis  turned  aside  to  avoid 
a  wood-pile,  which,  unknown  to  him,  had  been  placed 
in  the  line  of  his  usual  walk.  When  asked  how  he 
knew  there  was  an  obstruction  before  him,  he  replied, 
"I  felt  it."  Perhaps  he  should  have  said  he  heard  it. 

The  sense  of  pressure  enables  a  man  to  use  his 
hand  as  an  accurate  balance.  Experiment  proves 
that  we  are  able  to  distinguish  nineteen  and  one- 
half  from  twenty  ounces  by  muscular  sensibility. 

Exact  calculations  also  show  that  the  finger  can 
perceive  a  difference  of  temperature  of  about  one- 
fourth  degree  C.  ;  a  sensibility,  says  Bernstein, 
"  greater  than  we  should  have  expected,  since  it  is 
greater  than  that  of  an  ordinary  thermometer." 

By  the  sense  of  taste  we  can  detect  "one  part 
of  sulphuric  acid  in  one  thousand  parts  of  water." 
Carpenter  states  that  "the  experienced  wine- 
taster  can  distinguish  differences  in  age,  purity, 
place  of  growth,  etc.,  between  liquors  that  to  ordi- 
nary judgments  are  alike  ;  and  the  epicure  gives  an 
exact  determination  of  the  spices  that  are  combined 
in  a  particular  sauce,  or  the  manner  in  which  the 
animal  on  which  he  is  feeding  was  killed  " 

Bernstein  asserts  that  the  sense  of  smell  has  a 
delicacy  surpassing  that  of  any  of  the  other  senses. 
He  says,  "  No  chemical  reaction  can  detect  such 
minute  particles  as  those  which  we  perceive  in  the 
sense  of  smell,  and  even  spectrum  analysis,  which 
can  recognize  fifteen-millionths  of  a  grain,  is  far 
surpassed  in  delicacy  by  our  organ  of  smell." 


26  ESSAYS 

Bacon  says,  in  the  "Advancement  of  Learning," 
that  he  thinks  "  it  would  contribute  much  to  mag- 
nanimity and  the  honor  of  humanity  if  a  collection 
were  made  of  what  the  schoolmen  call  ultimities, 
and  Pindar,  the  tops  or  summits  of  human  nature, 
especially  from  true  history,  showing  what  is  the 
ultimate  and  highest  point  which  human  nature  has 
of  itself  attained  in  the  several  gifts  of  body  and 
mind."  Bacon  further  states  that  such  a  collec- 
tion had  been  designed  in  ancient  times  by  Valerius 
Maximus  and  Caius  Pliny. 

Influenced  by  Bacon's  suggestions,  one  Thomas 
Wanley,  an  Englishman,  about  a  century  ago  com- 
•  piled  a  work  which  he  called  "The  Wonders  of 
the  Little  World;  or,  A  General  History  of  Man." 
In  the  introduction  to  this  work  we  are  told  that 
its  author  ransacked  the  history  of  all  times  and 
nations  and  at  a  great  expense  of  labor  and  learning, 
which  renders  him  as  great  an  instance  of  human 
industry  as  is  to  be  found  in  his  own  book ;  he 
gleaned  several  thousand  facts  which  he  had  dis- 
posed in  such  order  as  to  form  a  complete  system  of 
the  mental  and  corporal  powers  and  defects  of 
man. 

Upon  examination,  I  find  Wanley's  book,  though 
quaint  and  entertaining,  by  no  means  authentic,  nor 
is  it  made  up  of  matter  sufficiently  important.  It 
deals  largely  in  the  traditional,  the  marvellous,  and 
the  monstrous,  and  entirely  fails  of  furnishing  "  that 
volume  of  human  triumphs  "  which  the  great  author 


THE    PARAGON    OF    ANIMALS  27 

of  " The  Advancement  of  Learning"  says  is  want- 
ing to  finish  what  Valerius  Maximus  and  Pliny  the 
Elder  had  begun. 

The  first  and  most  general  reason  why  we  admire 
man  is  that  he  presents  himself  to  our  view  as  the 
paragon  of  animals.  Whatever  may  be  the  origin 
of  the  human  species,  that  species  is  now,  by  many 
degrees,  superior  to  the  brute.  However  perfect  the 
missing  link  may  be,  we  know  how  much  the  average 
man  of  this  period  surpasses  the  average  ape.  Man 
"  is  the  only  living  creature  that  can  walk  or  stand 
erect.  His  face  and  eyes  look  straight  to  the 
front."  His  anatomical  structure  is  in  many  ways 
different  from  that  of  the  ape.  The  facts  are  all 
old  but  strong. 

The  great  distinction  of  man,  however,  is  that  the 
range  and  quality  of  his  reason  and  his  power  of  lan- 
guage lift  him  immeasurably  above  the  brute  creation. 
His  glorious  body,  quintessence  of  dust,  is  worthy  of 
the  faculties  which  manifest  themselves  through  it  — 
reason,  imagination,  love,  will  power,  speech.  Man 
is  majestic.  His  power  over  things  is  absolute. 

The  grandest  statue,  the  most  impressive  por- 
trait, cannot  compare  with  the  reality  which  it 
strives  to  imitate. 

Praxiteles  carves  well ;  Raphael  paints  skilfully ; 
but  what  artist  can  compare  with  the  Divine  Mas- 
ter ?  No  colored  outline  or  chiselled  form  can  ex- 
press power,  stateliness,  symmetry,  as  does  the 
person  of  a  Coriolanus,  an  Alexander,  a  Napoleon, 


28  ESSAYS 

a  Webster.  Long  before  Goethe  was  celebrated  as 
a  writer,  he  was  admired  as  an  Apollo.  We  read 
that  when  he  entered  a  restaurant  people  laid  down 
their  knives  and  forks  to  look  at  him.  Plutarch 
relates  that  "  Caius  Marcius,  being  in  the  depth  of 
winter,  and  in  great  hazard  of  his  life,  was  saved  by 
the  majesty  of  his  person  ;  for  while  he  lived  in  a 
private  house  at  Minturn,  there  was  a  public  officer, 
a  Cambrian  by  nation,  that  was  sent  to  be  his  execu- 
tioner ;  he  came  to  this  unarmed  old  man,  with  his 
sword  drawn,  but,  astonished  by  his  noble  presence, 
he  cast  away  his  sword,  and  ran  trembling  and 
amazed." 

What  glowing  canvas  or  shapen  marble  reveals 
queenliness  and  grace  as  do  the  form,  attitude, 
and  movement  of  a  splendid  woman  !  Marlowe,  the 
painter,  writing  of  Mrs.  Siddons,  said  that  when,  in 
the  character  of  Queen  Katherine,  she  addressed 
Wolsey  in  the  words,  "  Lord  Cardinal,  to  you  I 
speak,"  her  statuesque  attitude  was  the  sublimest 
thing  in  ancient  or  modern  sculpture. 

What  in  nature  or  art  so  satisfying  to  the  aesthetic 
sense  as  a  perfect  human  form  or  face !  Tradition 
says  that  Apelles,  ambitious  to  paint  a  picture  that 
should  worthily  represent  the  Goddess  of  Beauty, 
travelled  for  many  years,  and,  having  beheld  innum- 
erable fair  women,  he  mingled  the  charming  features 
of  all  in  a  composition  of  surpassing  loveliness,  and 
produced  an  ideal  Venus  to  which  all  Greece  yielded 
adoration.  There  is  another  account  of  the  origin 


THE    PARAGON    OF    ANIMALS  2Q 

of  both  this  work,  the  Venus  of  Cos,  and  the  equally 
celebrated  Venus  of  Cnidos,  executed  in  marble  by 
Praxiteles.  Alexander  Walker  informs  us  in  his 
"Analysis  of  Female  Beauty,"  that  "both  these 
productions  are  said  to  have  represented  Phryne 
coming  out  of  the  sea  on  the  beach  of  Sciron, 
in  the  Saronic  Gulf,  where  she  was  wont  to 
bathe." 

Madame  Recamier  was  so  beautiful  that  the  French 
people  all  but  worshipped  her.  Once  she  consented 
to  carry  around  the  purse  at  St.  Roche  for  a  charit- 
able object.  The  church  was  crowded,  the  people 
standing  upon  chairs  and  pillars  to  get  sight  of  her 
as  she  moved  down  the  aisles.  Twenty  thousand 
francs  were  dropped, into  her  box.  At  the  reception 
of  Bonaparte,  on  his  return  from  Italy,  she  rose  from 
her  seat  to  get  a  good  view  of  him,  the  crowd  caught 
sight  of  her,  and,  turning  from  the  conquering  gen- 
eral, gave  a  long  murmur  of  admiration. 

We  pass  from  the  contemplation  of  beauty  to  the 
study  of  strength  and  endurance.  What  can  the 
"  Paragon  of  Animals  "  do  and  bear  ?  What  can  he 
not  ?  Though  man  in  infancy  is  helpless,  he  be- 
comes at  maturity  very  powerful  for  a  creature  of 
his  size.  A  man's  power  is  estimated  to  be  one-fifth 
of  a  horse-power ;  that  is,  the  daily  labor  of  a 
workingman  is  performed  at  the  expense  of  force 
sufficient  to  lift  three  hundred  and  fifty-four  tons 
through  one  foot.  A  man  of  ordinary  strength  may, 
by  the  advantageous  application  of  his  muscular 


3O  ESSAYS 

energy,  lift  two  thousand  pounds  at  a  single  effort. 
Dr.  Winship  of  Boston  was  enabled,  by  patient  prac- 
tice, to  raise  the  enormous  weight  of  twenty-seven 
hundred  pounds. 

Dr.  Bellows  says,  in  his  letters  from  Europe,  that 
the  Alpine  climbers  of  the  Rifel  make  their  twenty 
miles'  tramp  over  glaciers  and  cols  eleven  or  twelve 
thousand  feet  high  without  serious  fatigue  and  with 
great  enjoyment.  Frederick  Hassaurek  reports  sim- 
ilarly of  the  Equadorean  arrieros,  "who  trot  fourteen 
or  fifteen  leagues  a  day  over  rugged  mountain  roads, 
now  ascending  steep  acclivities,  now  hurrying  down 
steep  and  muddy  ravines."  Byron  and  his  friend 
swam  the  Hellespont  in  emulation  of  Leander ;  Ida 
Pfaff  crossed  the  Andes  on  foot ;  Marie  Mathsdotter 
made  a  journey  of  six  hundred  miles  alone  on  skates  ; 
a  diver  won  a  wager  by  walking  several  miles  at  the 
bottom  of  the  Hudson. 

There  is  something  more  than  amusement  in  the 
equestrian  performances  of  the  circus,  the  perilous 
leaps  of  the  Hanlons,  the  difficult  evolutions  of  the 
ballet-dancers,  the  skill  of  accomplished  swordsmen. 
Yet  not  in  miraculous  feats  of  trained  gymnasts 
and  athletes  does  human  strength  show  at  its  best. 
The  application  of  man-power  and  endurance  to 
useful  purposes  gives  dignity  to  muscle.  Bodily 
strength  and  fortitude  make  it  possible  for  man 
to  obtain  and  hold  dominion  over  the  lower  animals 
and  over  the  substances  and  forces  of  nature.  Read 
Victor  Hugo's  iron  description  of  the  man  and  the 


THE    PARAGON    OF    ANIMALS  3! 

canon,  Vis  et  Vir.  Not  alone  to  brain  and  heart 
belongs  the  credit  of  the  conqueror  ;  the  God  who 
makes  soul  makes  sinew  too.  Samson  has  a 
mission  to  perform  as  well  as  Solomon  or  Isaiah. 
There  is  fitness  in  the  just  worship  of  Hercules 
and  Thor. 

Whoso  honors  labor  must  honor  muscle  and  nerve. 
Thanks  for  the  working  hand.  It  is  this  that  piles 
the  wharf  with  box  and  bale,  builds  up  the  mason's 
solid  stony  wall,  controls  the  locomotive's  course, 
flings  from  his  rocking  boat  the  whaler's  spear, 
overcomes  the  frenzy  of  the  rearing  horse,  hauls  the 
deep  anchor  from  the  ocean  bed,  holds  fast  the  ship's 
helm  in  the  roaring  storm,  directs  the  musket's  fly- 
ing shot,  and  wields  the  flashing  sabre  in  defence  of 
liberty  and  truth.  The  body  is  as  remarkable  for 
fortitude  as  for  active  power.  It  has  the  endurance 
of  St.  Simeon  Stylites  : 

"  Patient  on  this  tall  pillar, 
I  have  borne  rain,  wind,  frost,  heat,  hail,  damp  and  snow." 

The  only  cosmopolitan,  man  is  at  home  on  the 
scorching  sands  of  Sahara,  and  among  the  wind- 
beaten  crags  of  Labrador.  He  explores  the  marshy 
tundras  of  Siberia,  and  the  pestilential  jungles  of  the 
Dark  Continent.  He  plies  his  task  in  the  deep, 
dread  mine,  and  scales  the  snowy  height  of  Chimbo- 
razo.  He  dives  to  the  pearl-strewn  bottom  of  the 
sea,  and  rises  with  Mongolfier's  silken  ball,  above 
the  storm  cloud,  into  the  dizzy,  empty  spaces  of 
eternal  silence  and  cold. 


32  ESSAYS 

Men  have  been  known  to  survive  for  days,  weeks, 
and  even  months  without  sleep ;  and  numerous 
examples  are  on  record  of  persons  whose  daily 
slumbers  did  not  exceed  four  or  five  hours.  Fred- 
erick the  Great  was  one  of  these.  Soldiers  sleep  on 
the  frozen  ground  and  rise  instantly  to  arms  at  the 
bugle-call.  The  tough  Britons  slept  on  beds  of  sticks, 
scorning  a  softer  couch.  Canadian  lumbermen  sleep 
soundly  with  their  bodies  half  submerged  in  the 
water  of  a  raft,  their  head  pillowed  on  a  log  of 
wood. 

Life  may  be  prolonged  from  twenty  to  forty  days 
without  food,  and  from  eight  to  twelve  days  without 
either  food  or  drink.  Fairly  authentic  reports  assure 
us  that  certain  Indian  fakirs  retain  vitality  for  six 
weeks  buried  in  underground  cells  of  stone. 

The  fortitude  with  which  the  body  suffers  pain 
is  amply  exemplified  in  the  history  of  martyrdom. 
Even  more  to  be  admired  than  physical  strength 
and  fortitude,  even  more  than  beauty,  is  manual 
dexterity.  What  cannot  the  hand  make  and  manip- 
ulate ?  Observe  the  skill  of  the  base-ball  player, 
the  oarsman,  the  archer,  the  rifleman,  the  composi- 
tor, the  engraver,  the  phonographer,  the  micro- 
scopist.  Not  to  weary  you  with  illustration,  let  only 
the  art  of  the  musician  engage  your  mind  for  a 
moment.  Can  we  conceive  a  finer  and  more  com- 
plex mechanical  accomplishment  than  is  exhibited 
by  the  violin-playing  of  a  master  like  Wilhelmj  ? 
Think  of  what  his  fingers  can  do  ! 


THE    PARAGON    OF    ANIMALS  33 

The  human  hand  becomes  a  thing  divine.  Even 
more  wonderful  are  the  vocal  organs.  A  trained 
singer  can  determine  the  contraction  of  the  vocal 
organs  to  the  seventeen-thousandth  part  of  an  inch, 
so  nicely  is  the  instrument  tuned.  Then  hear  it 
play  !  Listen  to  Gary  or  Kellogg  or  Patti  :  — 

"  The  melting  voice  thro'  mazes  running, 
Untwisting  all  the  chains  that  tie 
The  hidden  soul  of  harmony." 


Do  we  ask  more  proof  that  the  human  body,  with 
all  its  infinite  capabilities,  is  the  master-work  of  the 
Creator  ? 

Shakespeare  portrays  man  in  a  few  sublime  sen- 
tences :  — 

"  What  a  piece  of  work  is  man  !  How  noble  in 
reason!  How  infinite  in  faculties!  In  form,  and 
moving,  how  express  and  admirable  !  In  action 
how  like  an  angel !  In  apprehension  how  like  a 
God  !  The  beauty  of  the  world  !  The  paragon  of 
animals  !  " 

If  the  temple  wherein  the  soul  dwells  for  a  time  is 
so  perfect,  if  it  is  so  deserving  of  honor  and  admira- 
tion and  care,  how  much  more  perfect  and  wonder- 
ful and  worthy  of  care  is  the  soul  itself,  and  what 
inexpressible  perfection  and  wealth  are  comprised  in 
body  and  soul  together,  —  in  man, — in  the  august 
creature  who  was  made  only  a  little  lower  than  the 
angels. 


34  ESSAYS 

What  a  theme  is  this  to  invite  research,  to  excite 
imagination,  to  inspire  reverence  for  the  master- 
work  of  the  Master-worker !  Mind  of  Man  !  Who 
can  estimate  its  farces  or  enumerate  its  modes  of 
action  ?  In  what  language  can  we  portray  the  intel- 
ligence which  informs  the  body,  making  dust  divine? 

Is  the  body  beautiful  —  how  can  we  paint  the  in- 
effable loveliness  of  the  spirit  ?  Is  muscle  swift  and 
strong  ?  Thought  flashes  in  an  instant  to  the  verge 
of  space.  Thought  is  stronger  than  Titan,  heaving 
the  earth  when  he  breathes.  Does  the  body  endure 
a  hundred  years  ?  The  mind  endures  forever.  Is 
nerve  sensitive  ?  Can  the  ear  discern  whispers,  and 
the  eye  catch  the  gleam  of  distant  stars  ?  The  mind 
receives  the  music  of  the  spheres  and  sees  the  pro- 
cession of  ages  filing  along  the  shore  of  time. 

If  from  the  pages  of  history  we  should  select 
examples  showing  the  vast  intellectual  and  moral 
achievements  that  individuals  have  actually  made,  as 
we  have  attempted  to  show  by  authentic  facts  what 
physical  accomplishments  men  really  possess,  what 
an  overwhelming  array  of  evidence  would  we  have  of 
the  possibilities  of  human  nature.  Whatever  facul- 
ties or  powers  have  been  manifested  in  any  human 
being  exist  in  embryo,  or  in  a  more  or  less  devel- 
oped state,  in  every  complete  individual. 

The  thorough  development  of  all  the  faculties, 
bodily  and  mental,  of  a  complete  man,  would  furnish 
the  world  with  a  perfect  man.  Human  culture  em- 
braces all  the  processes  by  which  we  approximate  to 


THE    PARAGON    OF    ANIMALS 


35 


such  development.  These  processes  are  the  means 
of  culture.  The  ends  are  as  numerous  and  diverse. 
Culture  aims  to  secure  every  true,  good,  and  beau- 
tiful thing,  mortal  and  immortal,  to  which  man  can 
aspire. 


36  ESSAYS 


III 


FUNCTIONS    OF   THE   PREPARATORY 
SCHOOL 

.  THE  preparatory  school,  because  it  is  preparatory, 
holds  a  position  of  peculiar  trust  among  educational 
institutions.  No  one  loses  the  impress  made  upon 
him,  the  impulse  given  him,  by  the  first  schooling 
he  receives. 

What  is  the  main  purpose  of  education  ?  What 
the  essential  duty  of  the  teacher  ?  — To  develop  mind, 
brain  power,  mental  and  moral  force.  This  develop- 
ment is  effected  not  merely  by  accumulating  knowl- 
edge, as  one  puts  gold  in  bank,  but  also  by  training 
the  powers  of  thought  and  feeling,  by  arousing  the 
faculties  to  original  action  and  conscious  achieve- 
ment. The  subjects  taught  are  of  a  value  propor- 
tioned to  their  good  effect  on  the  mind.  Lessons, 
like  food,  are  taken  for  their  nourishing  quality. 
They  must  enter  into  the  intellectual  circulation. 
Not  the  studies,  but  the  study  educates.  'Tis  labor 
lost  to  store  facts  in  the  brain  if  they  serve  no  other 
use  than  when  in  books. 

Your  pupil  is  fitted  for  college  when  he  knows  how 
to  answer  the  entrance  examination  questions,  and, 


FUNCTIONS    OF    THE    PREPARATORY    SCHOOL        37 

besides  this,  knows  how  to  think,  how  to  listen,  how 
to  learn,  how  to  co-operate  with  books  and  teachers, 
and  how,  in  some  degree,  to  direct  his  own  course. 

For,  as  Ouintilian  says,  "  Why  do  we  teach  pupils 
but  that  they  may  not  always  require  to  be  taught  ?  " 

Much  is  it  desired  that  some  plan  be  devised  by 
which  competitive  examinations  shall  test  the  powers 
as  well  as  the  possessions  of  the  mind. 

None  know  better  than  college  professors  how 
important  it  is  that  the  freshmen  start  with  right 
habits,  motives,  and  aspirations.  Some  educators 
make  a  strange  distinction  between  fitting  for  college 
and  fitting  for  life,  as  if  one  fitting  were  incompatible 
with  the  other.  Better  not  fit  for  college  at  all  if 
that  fitting  unfits  for  life,  present  or  prospective. 

Do  the  most  for  your  pupil  to-day,  and  he  will 
have  the  best  possible  preparation  for  to-morrow. 
Each  day's  mental  growth  should  be  a  beautiful  con- 
clusion to  all  preceding  growths  and  a  hopeful  begin- 
ning to  all  following. 

The  object  of  all  schooling  is  to  strengthen  and 
enrich  the  human  faculties.  The  best  education 
gives  to  man's  natural  powers  the  right  direction  and 
greatest  efficiency.  The  superior  teacher  endeavors 
to  impart  to  his  pupils  both  knowledge  and  the  art 
of  getting  knowledge.  He  conveys  by  his  teaching, 
not  only  the  contents  of  books,  but  also  correct 
habits  of  study, ^thought,  and  speech.  He  seeks  to 
expand  the  intellect,  regulate  the  affections,  and 
impel  the  will  of  his  pupils,  so  that  they  may  be 


38  ESSAYS 

trusted  to  use  their  minds  and  acquisitions  rightly, 
at  all  times  and  places,  without  supervision. 

The  cramming  system,  fostered,  I  fear,  as  much 
by  the  colleges  as  by  the  lower  schools,  is  opposed 
to  every  axiom  of  pedagogics,  and  earnest  teachers 
everywhere  protest  against  it. 

In  Strasburg  a  method  prevails  of  compelling 
geese  to  eat  in  order  to  increase  enormously  the 
size  of  the  liver,  for  pates  de  foies  gras — fat  liver 
pies.  The  unhappy  goose  is  shut  up  in  a  box  barely 
large  enough  to  hold  him,  and  is  crammed  with  food 
several  times  a  day.  His  bill  is  forced  open,  and  the 
pabulum  is  poked  down  his  throat  with  the  finger. 
Alas  for  the  poor  goose  or  gosling  who  is  crammed 
with  indigestible  knowledge,  be  it  science,  mathe- 
matics or  classics  ;  whose  memory  grows  prodigious 
at  the  expense  of  health,  reason,  wit,  fancy,  feeling, 
taste,  manner,  and  conscience. 

This  process  of  cramming  is  part  of  the  compli-, 
cated  operation  known  as  machine  education,  so 
much,  but  not  enough,  criticised  and  condemned. 
The  terrible  "  machine,"  though  found  in  the  most 
mischievous  perfection  in  large  public  schools,  in 
cities  whence  it  is  difficult  to  remove  it,  is  set  up  also 
in  many  schools,  where  there  is  no  excuse  for  tolerat- 
ing it.  Teachers  are  not  so  much  to  blame  for  the 
existence  of  the  " machine"  as  are  the  people,  too 
many  of  whom,  though  theoretically  opposed  to  it, 
practically  regard  it  as  a  useful  and  necessary  part 
of  school  apparatus,  and,  unless  they  see  the  usual 


FUNCTIONS    OF    THE    PREPARATORY    SCHOOL         39 

forms,  papers,  reports,  per  cents,  text-books,  and 
external  routine  in  general,  are  apt  to  take  alarm  and 
suspect  something  visionary.  Too  often  the  friends 
of  better  education  are  like  the  temperance  man  in 
Maine,  who  was  in  favor  of  the  prohibition  law,  but 
opposed  to  its  enforcement. 

Reforms  go  forward  but  slowly  when  not  encour- 
aged by  public  sentiment.  Nevertheless,  as  a  Ger- 
man philosopher  says,  "  To  elevate  above  the  spirit 
of  the  age  must  be  regarded  as  the  end  of  education." 
We  must  pursue  in  patience  the  path  of  our  feet. 

Education  should  proceed  with  free  steps  along  a 
broad  way.  Learners,  properly  instructed,  take  an 
active,  happy  interest  in  their  work.  Teachers 
often  quench  desire  by  pouring  in  knowledge.  They 
should  create  thirst  for  knowledge,  and  the  pupil's 
eagerness  will  lead  him  to  the  fountains.  The 
only  thoroughness  possible  proceeds  from  willing 
effort.  The  boy  who  does  not  care  for  his  own 
progress  does  not  advance.  You  cannot  teach  a 
pupil  what  he  will  not  learn.  A  humble  mood  is 
the  first  requisite  of  the  student.  Only  the  docile 
have  discovered  the  secret  of  power.  Obedience  is 
victory.  The  demands  of  a  good  school  are  rigorous 
and  exacting.  True  are  the  words  of  Joubert  :  "  Edu- 
cation should  be  tender  and  severe,  and  not  cold  and 
soft." 

Youth  needs  guidance  ;  no  greater  evil  can  befall 
a  boy  than  to  be  left  to  do  as  he  pleases.  The  duties 
that  a  preparatory  school  prescribes  are  imperative, 


4O  ESSAYS 

and  should  be  done  with  scrupulous  integrity.  Let 
no  one  hope  to  reap  the  sheaf  of  scholarship  except 
with  the  sickle  of  toil. 

'One  of  the  functions  of  a  preparatory  school  is  to 
discover  and  respect  the  individuality  of  pupils.  We 
cannot  fashion  all  characters  in  the  same  way,  and  if 
we  could,  we  should  not.  We  defy  nature  when  we 
force  John  to  be  James,  or  either  of  them  to  imitate 
ourself.  You  must  be  you  ;  he,  he  ;  and  I,  I.  Nature 
fixes  that ;  education  must  accept  nature's  condition. 
Yet  children  cannot  know  themselves  or  their  own 
bent  ;  teachers  must  discover  the  natural  tendency, 
and  act  from  a  knowledge  of  it.  Diversity  in  dispo- 
sition does  not  necessarily  call  for  great  difference  in 
treatment.  A  beginner  in  learning  cannot  be  a  cor- 
rect judge  of  what  he  ought  to  study  or  not  to  study. 
The  young  are  almost  certain  to  mistake  their 
wishes  for  capacities. 

The  competent  educator  recognizes  diversity  of 
ability  in  young  people,  as  in  older  ones,  whether 
owing  to  hereditary  influence,  state  of  health,  or 
other  cause.  It  is  not  to  be  expected  that  pupils 
develop  with  equal  rapidity  or  in  the  same  degree 
under  similar  schooling.  Enough  if  each  works  up 
to  the  limits  of  his  power.  'Tis  a  misfortune,  not  a 
vice,  to  be,  like  Snug  the  joiner,  "slow  of  study." 

The  merit  of  a  teacher  is  tested  by  what  he  does 
for  the  tortoise,  not  by  the  fact  that  he  causes  the 
hare  to  run  swiftly.  Take  care  of  the  blockheads 
and  the  heads  will  take  care  of  themselves. 


FUNCTIONS    OF    THE    PREPARATORY    SCHOOL        4! 

Yet  the  blockheads  and  the  incorrigibles  may,  in 
the  long  run,  win  the  goal  of  scholarship  and  virtue. 
Stupidity,  stolidity,  inaptitude  for  'special  studies, 
vicious  tendencies,  are  to  be  regarded  as  chronic 
diseases  ;  the  wise  physician  of  mind  may  cure  them 
by  patient  treatment. 

The  perfect  work  of  education  cannot  be  accom- 
plished except  in  the  individual  who  comes  from  a 
stock  prudently  cultivated  for  generations.  Train- 
ing your  pupil  you  are  continuing  the  work  of 
his  ancestors'  teachers,  and  you  are  possibly  edu- 
cating his  posterity.  Seed  brain,  like  seed  corn, 
propagates  its  kind,  improved  or  deteriorated  by  cul- 
ture. When  we  grade  our  pupils,  is  it  not  just  to 
bear  in  mind  what  share  of  their  success  or  failure 
depends  upon  birth  and  family  influence,  and  what 
upon  their  own  independent  effort  ? 

Finally,  the  preparatory  school  must  take  time 
and  pains  to  cultivate  goodness,  courtesy,  and  deli- 
cacy in  pupils.  Every  class  should  be  a  class  in 
conduct,  though  no  precepts  need  be  announced. 
Every  relation  of  teacher  and  learner  should  induce 
in  both  gentle  and  gracious  behavior,  self-respect, 
dignity,  and  sense  of  honor.  The  greatest  value  of 
any  education  is  its  moral  value.  The  schools  are 
the  foremost  promoters  of  civilization.  They  should 
illustrate  the  best  habits  of  the  best  society. 

In  a  word,  the  ideal  duty  of  the  educator  is  to 
make  the  best  of  his  pupils  by  preventing  all  per- 
versions and  assisting  all  normal  faculties  to  attain 


42  ESSAYS 

their  true  functions.  Beautiful  and  inspiring  is  that 
sentence  of  a  wise  French  thinker  :  — 

"  Man  might  be  so  educated  that  all  his  prepos- 
sessions would  be  truths,  and  all  his  feelings  virtues." 

Sacred  is  the  task  of  the  teacher  ;  let  us  approach 
it  with  reverence,  and  discharge  it  with  religious 
fidelity,  for  education  is  the  science  of  life,  and  con- 
duct is  its  cognate  art. 


SCHOOLMASTERY  43 


IV 

SCHOOLMASTERY 

I.    GUIDE,    SHEPHERD,  AND    PILOT 

THE  word  paidagogos,  from  which  we  derive  peda- 
gogue, a  teacher,  and  pedagogics,  the  science  of 
education,  means  primarily,  "  child-leader."  The 
Greek  pedagogue,  as  is  well  known,  walked  with  the 
children  to  and  from  school,  took  care  of  them, 
helped  carry  their  books  and  harps,  taught  and  pro- 
tected them. 

The  Anglo-Saxon  term  for  pedagogue  is  child-herd, 
shepherd  of  human  lambs. 

The  word  schoolmaster  is  a  strong,  serviceable 
compound  containing  both  Roman  and  English  blood. 
Master  is  derived  from  magis,  greater,  and  stoer,  tq 
steer,  and  hence  means  chief  steerer,  principal  pilot, 
or  ruling  director ;  in  other  words,  one  who  is  able 
to  control  his  affairs  so  as  to  obtain  successful  re- 
sults, to  helm  his  ship  to  the  desired  port.  There  is 
a  suggestive  antithesis  between  the  words  magister 
and  minister,  the  greater  and  the  lesser  pilot.  .  The 
fact  that  we  say  schoolmaster  and  church  minister 
suggests  that  the  teacher  has  more  absolute  power 


44  ESSAYS 

than  the  preacher.  The  former  commands  and  con- 
trols the  young  and  plastic  ;  the  latter  persuades  the 
mature  and  fixed. 

The  function  of  the  teacher  has  widened,  and  the 
dignity  of  his  office  has  been  magnified  in  modern 
times.  We  call  the  teacher  not  only  pedagogue, 
child-herd,  schoolmaster,  but  also  instructor,  pre- 
ceptor, disciplinarian,  educator.  The  efficacy  of  his 
work  has  doubled  because  it  has  come  to  include 
her  work ;  for  girls  now  go  to  school  with  the 
boys,  and  women  teach  with  men.  What  an  ac- 
cession to  the  civilizing  forces  of  the  world  !  There 
once  was  a  time  when  literature  was  addressed  to 
men  only,  and  when  women  who  wrote  or  read  were 
considered  out  of  their  proper  sphere.  Now  men 
and  women  write  alike  for  women  and  men,  and  both 
sexes  participate  in  teaching  and  learning. 

2.    WHAT    THE    SCHOOLMASTER    MASTERS. 

Schoolmastery  is  a  double  mastery.  It  puts  and 
keeps  the  school,  as  a  whole,  and  every  pupil,  in  the 
best  condition  to  learn,  and  also  causes  all  to  learn 
what  is  best  to  know.  Further  than  this  and  more 
important,  it  compels  the  school  and  every  pupil  to 
do  the  things  they  know,  thus  making  bodily,  intel- 
lectual, and  emotional  acquirements,  practical  forces 
in  bettering  society  and  self. 

The  dual  purposes  of  his  office  will  be  present 
constantly  to  the  mind  of  the  master.  His  duties 
are  both  impersonal  and  personal, — the  class  he 


SCHOOLMASTERY  45 

teaches  is  a  thing ;  the  members  of  it  are  persons, 
boys  and  girls.  The  school  must  be  regarded  as  a 
community  working  out  a  problem  of  social  and 
political  duty,  and  as  a  number  of  individuals  each 
destined  to  a  personal  existence  and  bound  to  pur- 
sue a  special  ideal.  The  master  fashions  the  opinion 
and  colors  the  conduct  of  his  small  republic.  He 
masters  both  brain  and  heart.  The  schoolmaster 
masters  the  school's  will. 

All  this  he  does,  not  despotically,  not  to  oppress 
or  to  suppress,  but  to  strengthen  and  expand  the 
powers  of  his  subjects.  He  bears  them  up  on  eagle's 
wings,  for  the  sake  of  teaching  them  to  fly. 

3.     TEACHING    AND    GOVERNING. 

Usually  the  excellent  instructor  is  the  successful 
ruler.  The  teaching  faculty  seems  to  carry  with  it 
authority.  The  disciplined  mind  makes  itself  felt 
as  a  disciplining  mind.  Whatever  regulates  the 
thoughts  of  a  pupil  also  regulates  his  outer  conduct. 
When  a  boy  is  thinking,  he  "  comes  to  order."  Skill 
in  imparting  knowledge  commands  respect  and  elicits 
attention.  The  teacher  whose  stock  of  knowledge 
is  large  and  varied,  and  whose  method  of  communi- 
cating ideas  is  clear,  captures  his  school  by  charming 
their  intellect,  and  thus  he  escapes  conflict  with 
their  passions. 

Yet  it  must  be  conceded  that  skill  in  teaching  is 
not  always  associated  with  ability  to  govern.  The 
pulses  of  the  blood  cannot  be  reached  by  appeals 


46  ESSAYS 

to  reason.  Man  is  an  animal,  especially  when  he 
is  a  boy.  The  schoolmaster  must  learn  the  "  art 
Napoleon,"  which,  though  difficult  to  acquire,  is 
learnable.  Some  are  born  to  rule.  Equally  true 
is  it  that  some  are  born  with  tact  for  teaching. 
Now  and  then  one  appears  in  the  flesh,  endowed 
with  special  gifts  of  rulership  and  teachership.  But 
if  the  schools  wait  for  Providence  to  send  them 
miraculous  masters,  they  must  wait  too  long. 

The  professor  of  pedagogy  should  give  his  scheme 
scope  enough  to  include  the  art  of  governing  youth 
as  a  necessary  part  of  the  teacher's  preparation. 
The  normal-school  graduate,  when  he  goes  forth  to 
seek  a  position,  ought  to  bear  with  him  as  distinct 
understanding  of  how  to  govern  as  of  how  to  teach. 
He  must  widen  his  conception  of  the  training  that 
fits  him  to  educate  boys  and  girls.  How  can  he 
educate  them  in  the  elements  of  learning,  unless  he 
knows  how  to  hold  them  in  a  receptive  attitude  ? 
He  must  get  at  them  in  order  to  instruct  them.  Per- 
haps  more  than  half  the  teaching  we  do  is  wasted 
because  we  do  not,  by  controlling  their  wills,  prepare 
pupils  to  receive  knowledge. 

4.    PERSUASION    AND    FORCE. 

Themistocles,  the  Athenian  general,  demanding 
tribute  of  the  revolted  cities,  gave  it  out  that  "he 
had  on  board «his  ships  two  powerful  divinities  —  Per- 
suasion and  Force  ;  and  whoever  would  not  follow 
the  former  must  submit  to  the  latter."  The  school- 


SCHOOLMASTERY  47 

master  relies  on  the  same  "two  powerful  divinities," 
to  secure  obedience  to  the  necessary  laws  by  which 
the  intellect,  the  affections,  and  the  will  of  youth  are 
rightly  educated. 

Obedience  to  proper  authority  for  just  and  desira- 
ble objects  is  necessary  from  every  one.  The  teacher 
should  assume  that  every  salutary  school  law  is 
sacred,  and  must  be  observed,  not  because  he  com- 
mands so,  but  because  it  is  salutary.  The  teacher  is 
as  imperatively  bound  to  execute  good  laws  as  his 
pupils  are  to  comply  with  them.  No  personal  issue 
need  be  made.  The  law  is  impersonal ;  the  teacher 
reveres  the  law  because  it  is  the  means  of  doing 
good  to  his  pupil ;  he  says,  like  Paul,  "  The  law  is 
our  schoolmaster," — yours  and  mine;  he  rejoices 
when  the  pupil  conforms  to  the  rule  of  right;  he  is 
sorry  when  the  pupil  falls  below  the  required  stand- 
ard and  compels  the  lawgiver  to  become  judge  and 
executive. 

The  teacher,  like  the  parent,  unites  in  his  office 
the  three  governmental  functions.  He  must  define 
what  is  to  be  done  ;  he  must  decide  the  manner  of 
doing  it ;  he  must  enforce  the  duties  demanded. 
There  is  constant  danger  that  he  will  abuse  his 
unlimited  power,  through  ignorance  or  want  of  self- 
control.  Therefore  he  should  be  forever  on  his 
guard.  The  history  of  education  shows  too  many 
examples  of  the  mistakes  of  the  pedagogue  in  the 
art  of  rulership.  The  records  unhappily  prove  that 
Force  has  often  been  appealed  to  when  Persuasion 


48  ESSAYS 

should  have  been  sought.  If  this  were  not  so,  the 
literature  of  the  world  would  not  present  so  fright- 
ful a  gallery  of  the  pictures  of  ill-tempered  and 
despotic  schoolmasters. 

Books  on  school  government  repeat  the  maxim 
that  force  should  be  resorted  to  only  after  other 
means  are  exhausted.  This  is  often,  but  not  always, 
true.  Force  should  occasionally  be  the  first  resort, 
especially  with  very  young  pupils  and  with  older 
ones  in  whom,  as  Plato  says,  "  The  fountain  of  rea- 
son is  not  opened."  It  is  impossible  to  persuade  a 
mind  incapable  of  reasoning,  or  to  move  feelings 
incapable  of  activity.  The  object  of  both  persua- 
sion and  force  is  to  set  the  wrong  right.  When  the 
wrong  is  set  right,  both  persuasion  and  force  become 
useless. 

The  purpose  of  government,  and  therefore  of  its 
agencies,  persuasion  and  force,  is  twofold,  having 
reference  to  scholarship  and  to  conduct.  The  stu- 
dent must  study — must  obey  the  laws  that  regulate 
the  development  of  memory,  reason,  judgment,  lan- 
guage. But  since  conduct  is  more  than  learning,  he 
must  also  behave  properly  —  must  obey  the  laws  of 
his  moral  nature.  The  kind  of  persuasion  and  the 
kind  of  force  that  induce  him  to  master  his  lessons 
and  to  control  his  general  conduct,  visible  and  invisi- 
ble, is  what  the  schoolmaster  must  go  in  quest  of, 
and  seek  till  he  finds.  That  secret  is  his  holy  grail. 


SCHOOLMASTERY  49 

5.  DR.  ARNOLD'S  WAY. 

Mr.  Stanley,  in  his  biography  of  Thomas  Arnold, 
says  of  that  celebrated  teacher  :  — 

"  Pie  recognized  in  the  peculiar  vices  of  boys  the  same  evils  which, 
when  grown,  become  the  source  of  so  much  social  mischief.  He 
governed  his  school  on  precisely  the  same  principles  he  would  have 
governed  a  great  empire  ;  and  constantly  exemplified  to  his  own  mind, 
or  the  minds  of  his  scholars,  the  highest  truths  in  the  simplest  rela- 
tions of  boys  towards  each  other  and  towards  him.  The  boys  were 
treated  as  school-boys,  but  as  school-boys  who  must  grow  up  to  be 
Christian  men;  whose  age  did  not  prevent  their  faults  from  being 
sins,  or  their  excellences  from  being  noble  and  Christian  virtues, 
whose  situation  did  not  make  the  application  of  principles  to  their 
daily  life  an  impractical  vision.  ...  In  proportion  as  he  disliked  an 
assumption  of  false  manliness  in  boys  wras  his  desire  to  cultivate  in 
them  true  manliness,  as  the  only  step  to  something  higher,  and  to 
dwell  upon  earnest  principles  and  moral  thoughtfulness  as  the  great 
and  distinguishing  mark  between  good  and  evil.  Hence  his  wish 
that  as  much  as  possible  should  be  done  by  the  boys,  and  nothing  for 
them ;  hence  arose  his  practice  of  treating  the  boys  as  gentlemen  and 
reasonable  beings,  of  making  them  respect  themselves  by  the  mere 
respect  he  showed  them,  of  showing  that  he  appealed  to  their  own 
common  sense  and  conscience." 

Dr.  Arnold's  method  of  dealing  with  the  boys  of 
Rugby  has  been  applied  in  more  than  one  American 
school  with  the  most  beneficial  results.  Indeed, 
the  plan  seems  more  American  than  English,  being 
founded  on  a  democratic  idea.  Mr.  Hughes  tells  us 
that  the  Rugby  boys  told  Dr.  Arnold  no  lies  because 
they  knew  he  would  believe  them.  Confidence  begets 
confidence,  suspicion  excites  suspicion.  The  conflict, 
open  or  secret,  that  goes  on  between  teacher  and 
pupils  in  many,  if  not  in  most  schools,  is  unnatural 


5O  ESSAYS 

and  unnecessary.  The  majority  of  boys  and  girls 
will  co-operate  fully  and  sincerely  with  a  competent 
teacher  who,  without  reserve,  takes  them  at  their 
word,  in  full  faith,  and  acts  upon  the  theory  of 
mutual  trust.  The  minority  he  can  master  com- 
pletely with  the  aid  and  sympathy  of  the  majority. 

The  emphasis  that  Arnold  placed  upon  inculcating 
"  earnest  principles  and  moral  thoughtfulness  "  in 
his  pupils  points  to  the  central  fact  in  the  science 
and  art  of  school  government.  Boys  and  girls  can 
never  be  trusted  by  parent  or  teacher  who  does  not 
rely  on  their  own  moral  sense,  and  learn  to  exercise 
their  minds  in  the  direction  of  conscious,  thoughtful 
self-government.  In  other  words,  individual  charac- 
ter must  be  educated  and  developed  in  boys  and 
girls. 

6.  HOW  NOT  TO  GOVERN  A  SCHOOL. 

A  gentleman  owning  suburban  grounds,  with  fruit 
orchard  and  flower  garden,  put  up  at  conspicuous 
points  on  the  border  of  his  premises,  the  warning 
inscription,  "No  Trespass,"  painted  in  threatening 
capitals  of  black  on  a  white  board.  The  purpose  of 
these  imperative  notices  was  to  prevent  depredation  ; 
the  effect  was  to  provoke  the  wanton  spirit  of  all  the 
boys  of  the  neighborhood.  The  curt  notice  was  con- 
strued into  a  challenge ;  the  boards  were  battered  to 
pieces  with  stones  ;  raids  were  organized  to  spoliate 
the  unwise  gentleman's  vineyard  and  water-melon 
patch.  His  vigilance  to  anticipate  trouble  antago- 


SCHOOLMASTERY  5! 

nized  Tom,  Dick,  and  Harry,  and  precipitated  the 
evil  it  was  eager  to  avert. 

The  gentleman's  wife  employed  a  different  and 
more  successful  method  of  protecting  the  place. 
She  caused  a  hedge  of  rose-bushes  to  be  planted 
around  the  premises,  and  the  obnoxious  warnings 
were  removed.  When  the  next  June  came,  "the 
boys"  came  also;  but  instead  of  marauding,  they 
paused  to  admire  the  beautiful  and  friendly  barrier 
of  blossoms,  and,  after  consultation,  concluded  that 
it  would  be  a  shame  to  destroy  what  Mrs.  Thompson 
had  provided  for  the  pleasure  of  the  wayfarer.  The 
prudence  of  Mrs.  Thompson  had  quite  changed  the 
disposition  of  Thomas,  Richard,  and  Henry. 

Prohibitory  orders,  when  uncalled  for,  are  sure  to 
bring  out  antagonism.  Forbidden  fruit  is  ever 
sought,  whether  it  be  good  or  evil.  Blue  Beard's 
wife  looks  into  the  closet.  Tell  a  boy  that  a  few 
drops  of  nitro-glycerine  will  blow  his  head  off — he 
straightway  studies  chemistry  to  find  out  how  to 
make  nitro-glycerine.  Tell  him  you  will  skin  him 
alive  if  he  don't  behave  himself,  and  he  will  set  all 
his  wits  to  invent  ways  and  means  of  misdemeanor. 

Therefore  think  twice  before  you  threaten  to  pun- 
ish for  prospective  violations  of  the  law.  Expect 
your  pupils  to  do  right,  yet  be  prepared  for  them  to 
do  wrong.  Neither  require  nor  prohibit  acts  that 
you  are  unable  to  control. 


52  ESSAYS 

/.    THE    TRUE    STORY    OF    "RUSTY    NAILS." 

A  very  unpromising  lad,  reputed  incorrigible, 
applied  for  admission  to  a  certain  city  school.  He 
sullenly  admitted  that  he  had  been  expelled.  The 
urchin  rejoiced  in  the  peculiar  nickname  "  Rusty 
Nails."  Rusty  Nails  had  been  rattaned  until  his 
body  was  all  callous.  He  had  won  some  reputation 
as  a  teacher-fighter.  The  proprietor  of  the  new 
school  decided  to  take  him  on  probation,  at  the 
beseeching  solicitation  of  his  father,  an  eccentric 
gentleman  of  frail  will  but  stalwart  affections.  So 
on  Monday  morning  Rusty  Nails  entered  the  new 
school,  filled  from  crown  to  toe  top  full  of  direst 
insubordination.  Now,  it  happened  that  the  first  day 
glided  by  under  influences  strangely  pleasant,  and 
no  occasion  arose  for  any  sort  of  conflict.  The 
teachers  and  schoolmates  of  the  notorious  bad 
boy  acted  towards  him  just  as  if  he  were  one  of 
the  family,  showing  him  perhaps  a  little  special 
courtesy  because  he  was  a  stranger.  The  second 
day  shed  its  civilizing  light  and  warmth  on  him,  and 
a  curious  change  began  to  take  place  in  Rusty 
Nails.  A  month  elapsed,  and  the  boy  carried  home 
a  "  Report,"  giving  his  father  the  astonishing 
intelligence  that  his  son's  "deportment"  was  "ex- 
cellent," and  that  he  had  ninety-four  per  cent  in 
"problems." 

"What  is  the  meaning  of  this?"  asked  the  in- 
credulous parent.  "There  must  be  some  mistake  ; 


SCHOOLMASTERY  53 

your  '  Reports  '  before  this  always  gave  your  conduct 
as  very  bad.     Were  they  true,  or  is  this  ?  " 

"  Well,  pa,"  said  Rusty  Nails  with  a  broad  .grin, 
"  I'll  tell  you  how  it  is.  Them  '  Reports  '  was  true, 
and  this  here  one  is  true.  The  fact  is,  nobody  in 
the  new  school  seemed  to  want  to  lick  me,  and  there 
was  no  use  in  being  bad." 

8.     THE  IDEAL  TEACHER. 

The  model  teacher  should  be  —  should  he  not  be  a 
perfect  man  ?  Surely  should  the  teacher  whose  mis- 
sion it  is  to  point  the  way  to  perfection,  whose  special 
work  in  life  is  so  grand  in  its  scope  and  objects, 
surely  should  he  be  a  developer  of  men.  Yes,  "  let 
him  first  be  a  man  "  in  the  full  and  vigorous  exercise 
of  all  those  qualities  that  go  to  make  up  human 
nature.  Let  him  be  a  man  armed  at  all  points  for 
the  varying  fortunes  of  the  battle  of  life.  Let  him, 
so  far  as  in  him  lies,  be  such  a  man  as  in  his  own  con- 
ception excellent  education  may  produce,  so  that  he 
may  stand  both  as  guide  and  example.  Let  him  be 
a  man  each  day  rising  towards  his  ever-receding 
ideal,  each  day  realizing  his  highest  possible  destiny 
in  the  constant  endeavor  to  attain  unto  the  unattain- 
able, each  day  approximating  unto  perfection. 

Within  the  circumference  of  his  activity  as  a 
human  being  and  professor  of  humanity  is  included 
the  smaller  circle  of  his  particular  vocation  as  an 
educator  of  the  young.  But  each  special  calling  de- 
mands some  peculiar  qualities  in  its  votary,  and  some 


54  ESSAYS 

distinctive  adaptations.  While  practising  his  chosen 
profession,  art,  or  trade,  every  man  should  be  appro- 
priately costumed  and  equipped,  and  should  give 
himself  up  with  all  his  mind  and  with  all  his  might 
to  the  duties  of  the  day.  The  soldier,  armed  and 
uniformed  for  war,  is  familiar  with  the  manual  of 
tactics,  and  is  prepared  to  march  and  to  fight.  The 
surgeon,  differently  trained,  attired,  and  provided,  has 
mastered  anatomy  and  knows  how  to  use  his  case  of 
instruments.  The  priest  has  a  preparation,  apparel, 
and  manner  suited  to  the  pulpit.  The  teacher,  like- 
wise, requires  a  professional  outfit  adapted  to  his 
field  of  operations.  This  field  is  the  school  and  its 
environments.  The  obligation  of  the  schoolmaster 
is  to  educate  to  the  best  of  his  ability  an  assemblage 
of  children,  over  whom  he  exercises  an  almost  un- 
limited authority.  This  authority  is  not  natural,  but 
delegated,  and,  acting  in  the  place  of  many  parents, 
the  teacher  occupies  a  very  delicate  position,  beset 
with  difficulties.  He  holds  responsible  relations  to 
private  confidences  and  to  public  trusts  ;  he  links 
families  to  the  State.  At  once  he  is  nominally 
parent  and  magistrate,  yet  suffers  the  disadvantage 
of  being  neither  of  these  in  reality.  He  has  no  blood 
claim  to  the  obedience  and  affection  of  his  pupils, 
and  seldom  thinks  of  appealing  to  police  force  or 
judicial  intervention  in  the  management  of  his  small 
community.  In  fact,  the  family  and  the  State  both 
stand  aloof  and  trust  him,  or,  rather,  require  him  to 
sustain  his  position,  and  establish  his  reputation  by 


SCHOOLMASTERY 


55 


virtue  of  independent  judgment,  skill,  and  sagacity. 
The  tenure  of  his  office  depends  upon  the  re$ults  he 
achieves.  In  many  schools,  especially  country  and 
village  schools,  everything  is  trusted  to  the  teacher. 
'He  can  do  as  he  pleases,  provided  only  that  he  gives 
satisfaction.  He  is  expected  to  understand  what  he 
is  about.  "  Nothing  succeeds  like  success;"  but 
how  achieve  success  ?  How  acquire  the  mastery  of 
the  situation  and  the  confidence  of  pupil,  parent, 
trustee,  and  people  ? 

Circumstances  may  do  much  to  aid  the  teacher  : 
an  intelligent  and  liberal  community,  a  good  school- 
house  eligibly  located,  convenient  furniture  and  ap- 
paratus, attractive  books  to  study  and  read,  pictures 
on  the  wall,  a  piano,  flowers.  But  all  these  are  non- 
essential  :  the  teacher  is  more  than  circumstances  — 
he  is  centre.  Circumstances  are  things  which  stand 
around  ;  the  master  creates  circumstances  for  his 
necessity.  Garfield's  noted  and  notable  saying  can- 
not be  quoted  too  often  — "  A  bench  with  Mark 
Hopkins  seated  on  it  becomes  a  university."  The 
teacher  who  ascribes  his  failure  to  the  schoolhouse, 
or  the  text-book,  or  the  incorrigible  boy,  resembles 
the  farmer  who  condemned  the  prairie  because  it  was 
destitute  of  trees,  and  the  forest  because  it  was 
covered  with  woods.  We  must  take  things  as  the}/ 
are. 

Leaving  out  of   consideration   the  teacher's   deal 
ings  with  his  employers,  patrons,  and  the  neighbor- 
hood in  general,  let   us   inquire   what  qualifications 


56  ESSAYS 

and  deportment  will  best  promote  his  success  in  the 
specific  work  of  his  six  or  eight  hours'  daily  educat- 
ing within  the  schoolroom.  Happy  for  him  if  nature 
has  cut  him  out  for  the  business  he  has  chosen.  Un- 
happy for  him  and  his  charge  if  he  is  unfit  in  body 
or  mind  for  that  business.  To  win  and  sway  his 
school,  to  secure  respect  and  love,  he  should  possess 
an  attractive  exterior,  a  dignified  bearing,  a  pleasant 
face,  an  agreeable  voice,  a  charming  manner  :  to 
command  obedience  and  inspire  awe,  he  should  also 
have  the  look  and  manner  pertaining' to  authority, 
—  must  be  every  inch  a  king,  and  ready  to  sacrifice 
inclination  and  sentimental  softness  to  order  and 
law.  The  sternest  are  sometimes  the  gentlest.  He 
must  be  a  benignant  angel  to  loyal  and  trusty  pupils, 
but  a  terror  to  the  shirk,  the  sneak,  the  liar.  Yet 
there  need  be  no  putting-on  of  threatening  airs,  or 
clothing  the  offended  powers  with  thunder.  Napo- 
leon did  not  "  swell  round." 

Too  much  emphasis  cannot  be  placed  upon  the 
necessity  to  the  teacher  of  bodily  vigor,  activity,  and 
vigilance.  The  master,  or  mistress,  must  have  good 
eyes  and  ears  —  keen  senses  generally,  and  know 
how  to  employ  them.  Ever  on  the  alert,  and  yet 
never  perturbed,  he  must  know  what  is  going  on  and 
what  is  coming  on.  His  will,  like  a  reserved  military 
force,  must  rise  at  call,  if  need  be,  to  meet  and  over- 
throw the  combined  rebellious  will  of  his  school ;  for, 
be  he  never  so  just,  there  will  tumults  arise  on 
occasion,  and  the  very  best  pupils  will  sometimes 


SCHOOLMASTERY  57 

conspire  to  resist  their  own  good.  Veterans  in 
teaching  will  tell  you  that  when  everything  seems 
perfectly  serene  in  school,  and  all  goes,  as  it 
were,  without  effort  or  friction,  then  look  out  for 
trouble ! 

It  is  bad  policy  for  the  teacher  to  appeal  to  the 
school  for  personal  sympathy  by  alluding  to  tasks, 
sacrifices,  headaches,  or  the  like.  But  if  it  should 
hap  to  become  known  to  the  pupils  that  the  teacher 
suffered  and  made  no  complaint,  the  moral  effect  is 
powerful.  Boys  especially  admire  one  who  takes 
hurts  without  "  squealing." 

Due  attention  to  external  appearance  and  what  may 
be  called  physical  accomplishments,  no  less  than  to 
social  arts,  is  quite  as  necessary  as  the  regular  mental 
xand  moral  preparation  for  which  the  teacher's  license 
vouches.  The  certificate  may  testify  that  its  bearer's 
character  is  irreproachable  and  his  scholarship  supe- 
rior, but  in  spite  of  all  that,  boorish  behavior,  slovenly 
habits,  vulgar  associations,  will  counteract  every  paper 
recommendation,  and  defeat  every  ambition  of  the 
candidate  for  high  position  in  the  teacher's  profession. 
In  saying  this  I  do  not  underrate  the  supreme  im- 
portance of  complete  intellectual  equipment. 

The  usual  preparation  of  teachers  for  the  practice 
of  their  profession  is  desultory  and  confused.  It 
should  be  definite  and  methodical. 

The  special  training,  the  professional  fitting  or 
finishing,  should  be  preceded  by  a  sound  education. 
The  young  man  OP  woman  who  contemplates  becom- 


58  ESSAYS 

ing  a  teacher  should  first  obtain  a  clear  and  full 
knowledge  of  the  leading  facts  and  principles  of  sci- 
ence, language,  and  literature  ;  should  get  a  good 
academic  education,  a  large  fund  of  information,  a 
ready  facility  in  mental  operations.  Such  funda- 
mental schooling  is  what  every  cultivated  man  and 
woman  nowadays  is  assumed  to  possess.  This  is 
the  usual  American  stepping-stone  to  the  profes- 
sions. 

But  the  person  of  sound  general  education  is  not 
a  teacher  any  more  than  he  is  a  lawyer,  a  doctor,  a 
theologian,  an  artist,  an  actor.  There  maybe  "  born 
teachers,"  as  there  are  born  musicians  and  orators  ; 
but  I  am  now  writing  of  the  rule,  not  the  exception, 
of  made  teachers,  not  the  miraculous  few  who  came 
into  the  world  labelled  First  Class  Ediicator.  Was 
there,  in  fact,  ever  such  prodigy,  or  is  the  "  born 
teacher"  a  myth?  The  "born  teacher,"  if  there 
be  such,  will  not  bring  a  knowledge  of  algebra  and 
parsing  into  the  world  with  him,  and  therefore  he, 
too,  must  go  to  school  awhile.  The  basilar  education 
furnishes  whomsoever  has  it  a  pedestal  on  which  to 
erect  any  tower  of  particular  knowledge,  but  is  not 
itself  a  professional  fitting.  It  it  true,  however,  that 
as  teachers  deal  with  the  elements  of  learning,  the 
experience  of  every  student  is,  in  some  sense,  a  prep- 
aration to  teach,  wherefore  all  good  schools  partake 
of  the  nature  of  normal  schools,  and  especially  so 
when  they  exemplify  the  best  methods  of  instruction. 
The  scholar  who  has  been  taught  and  trained  by  an 


SCHOOLMASTERY  59 

expert  will  not  fail,  if  he  becomes  a  teacher,  to  imi- 
tate the  example  of  his  own  preceptor. 

Nevertheless,  no  matter  how  fortunate  may  have 
been  the  general  education  of  a  student,  he  needs 
his  special  course  before  entering  a  special  profession. 
It  should  be  the  function  of  the  Normal  School,  or 
the  pedagogical  Chair  of  the  University,  to  conduct 
him  along  this  special  course,  just  as  special  institu- 
tions and  professors  guide  students  to  the  degree  of 
Medical  Doctor,  Civil  Engineer,  or  Bachelor  of  Laws. 
The  student  who,  on  account  of  poverty,  or  any 
other  cause,  cannot  go  to  normal  school  or  univer- 
sity, may  study  at  home.  He  will  miss  the  advantage 
of  lectures,  quiz,  and  examination,  and  the  benefit 
which  comes  from  attrition  with  other  minds,  but 
there  are  some  compensations  for  his  loss.  Books 
know  everything  that  is  known.  Books  are  not  ex- 
'pensive.  Books  rival  the  professors  and  compete 
with  the  university.  What  must  the  student  read 
in  order  to  learn  the  business  of  teaching  ? 

Of  course  he  must  master,  in  detail,  the  branches 
he  is  expecting  to  teach.  These  he  has  studied  al- 
ready, in  the  childish  way,  at  the  common  school. 
They  must  be  restudied  in  the  manly  way.  The 
maturer  mind  will  discover  in  the  elementary  text- 
books much  that  escaped  the  beginner.  The  one 
or  two  manuals  to  which  the  school-boy's  lessons 
were  confined  will  be  supplemented  and  corrected  by 
many  others  which  the  grown-up  investigator  will 
peruse. 


6O  ESSAYS 

But  it  is  not  enough  to  know  accurately  the  contents 
of  the  text-books.  The  pupil  reads  to  acquire  and 
memorize;  the  teacher  reads  to  impart.  His  voca- 
tion requires  him  to  know  how  to  teach  in  general, 
and  how  to  teach  every  particular  branch  with  the 
best  economy  of  his  own  and  the  pupil's  time  and 
strength.  This  requisition  calls  for  a  close,  clear, 
and  complete  study  of  methods  of  teaching. 

Furthermore,  since  the  great  object  of  education 
is  to  develop  the  human  mind,  the  teacher  must  know 
the  structure  and  nature  of  the  mind,  —  must  know 
psychology,  the  science  of  mind. 

And  as  the  mind  is  manifested  through  the  bod- 
ily organism,  and  is  dependent  on  the  brain,  the 
teacher  should  know,  thoroughly  as  possible,  the 
science  of  physiology  and  collateral  branches.  An 
understanding  of  psychology  and  physiology — mind 
and  body  —  must  underlie  any  scheme  of  education 
that  can  justly  be  called  scientific. 

Educational  practice,  as  now  conducted,  is  largely 
empirical.  Yet  much  of  it  rests  upon  sound  maxims 
derived  from  successful  experiment.  Perhaps  it  can 
be  said  with  truth  that  modern  education  is  an  ex- 
perimental science,  and  that  our  progress  depends 
not  alone  upon  the  direct  study  of  the  faculties  of 
mind,  but  also  upon  what  has  been  demonstrated  in 
the  past  by  actual  trial.  The  History  of  Education 
therefore  contains  the  philosophy  of  education,  and 
the  teacher  must  give  hundreds  of  hours  to  the  study 
of  that  history. 


NATURE    THE    SOVEREIGN    SCHOOLMISTRESS  6l 


V 


NATURE   THE    SOVEREIGN    SCHOOL- 
MISTRESS 

i. 

MOTHER  NATURE  is  the  sovereign  schoolmistress. 
The  teacher  who  does  not  co-operate  with  her  fails  ; 
who  does  co-operate  with  her,  succeeds,  for  she  is  the 
authorized  principal  of  all  the  schools.  Her  creden- 
tials come  from  on  high.  Her  certificates  are  signed 
by  the  Great  Examiner. 

Man  has  his  part  in  training  his  fellow-man  ;  he  is 
his  brother's  keeper;  but  his  duty  is  limited  by  his 
ignorance.  Human  responsibility  extends  to  the 
verge  of  human  wisdom  and  virtue,  which  is  soon 
reached,  and  beyond  that  verge  Divine  hands  relieve 
us  of  our  tasks  and  cares.  Children  come  out  of  the 
mystery  of  Heaven,  and  are  consigned  to  our  trust 
to  be  nurtured,  taught,  made  ready  for  the  career 
called  living,  and  the  destiny  called  dying.  From 
God  we  come  into  the  world  ;  out  of  the  world  we  go 
to  God.  From  the  infinite  unknown  to  the  infinite 
unknown  is  the  brief  flight  called  mortal  existence. 

Nature,  the  daughter  of  God,  sits  in  the  earth  to 
interpret  her  Father's  will.  Her  lap  is  filled  with 


62  ESSAYS 

the  records  of  centuries,  and  she  opens  to  man  sibyl- 
line chapters  foretelling  what  humanity  shall  become. 
She  is  the  Sovereign  Schoolmistress.  Hear  ye  her 
voice. 

Man's  first  duty  is  to  educate  his  kind ;  and  to 
educate  is  to  assist  nature,  not  to  supplant  her,  not 
to  oppose  her.  Could  we  only  know  how  to  adjust 
ourselves  to  the  laws  of  God  (which  are  nature's 
laws),  we  might  hope  to  educate  with  a  potency 
hitherto  not  dreamed  of. 

We  must  educate  children  —  must  instruct,  con- 
trol, inspire,  direct  them,  by  the  wisest  means  we 
know ;  but  we  must  not  forget  that  they  also  educate 
themselves,  or  are  educated  by  inworking  forces ; 
that  the  very  structure  of  their  being  determines 
their  culture;  that  nature  gives  impulse  to  every 
faculty,  and  defines  every  function  of  body  and  mind. 

Teachers  cannot  create  mental  and  moral  elements 
in  pupils  ;  as  well  may  they  try  to  create  physical 
organs  by  gymnastic  training.  We  may  retard,  de- 
velop, regulate,  harmonize  existing  organs  and  forces, 
but  that  is  all  we  can  do.  The  educator's  utmost 
science  is  to  know  nature's  laws  ;  his  supreme  art  is 
to  co-operate  with  them.  This  is  the  economy  of 
economies. 

Boys  and  girls  should  not  be  left  to  run  wild ; 
nevertheless,  the  same  instinct  and  energy  which 
runs  them  wild  is  the  power  on  which  to  rely  in  pro- 
pelling them  up  the  hill  of  civilization.  The  misap- 
plication of  power  is  evil,  but  power  itself  is  good. 


NATURE    THE    SOVEREIGN    SCHOOLMISTRESS          63 

As  where  there  is  life  there  is  hope,  so  where  there  is 
mental  force  there  is  promise.  It  is  a  radical  mistake 
to  regard  the  faculties  of  the  soul  as  essentially  bad 
or  wrong.  There  are  no  evil  passions  or  base  pro- 
pensities. The  complete  man  possesses  all  the  fac- 
ulties named  or  not  named  in  mental  and  moral 
philosophy.  The  perfect  man  uses  all,  misuses  none, 
of  these  faculties.  Evil  springs  from  misuse,  and 
misuse  is  the  result  of  ignorance  more  than  of  con- 
scious law-breaking.  The  teacher  has  cause  for  dis- 
couragement and  grieving  when  he  discovers  a  strong 
faculty  perverted ;  yet  he  should  take  heart  from  the 
reflection  that  conversion  is  always  possible  ;  that,  in 
fact,  the  best  skill  of  his  days  must  be  employed  in 
converting.  One  may  deal  confidently  with  a  devel- 
oped faculty, — with  an  active,  positive,  vigorous 
force  ;  but  how  much  more  difficult  and  perplexing  it 
is  to  germinate  an  embryo,  to  hatch  an  egg  of  the 
mind,  and  feed  the  chick  through  the  gaps  of  infantile 
feebleness  ! 

There  must  be  some  natural  order  of  development 
in  man.  Each  individual  grows,  feels,  wills,  acts, 
according  to  the  tendency  and  possibility  of  his 
nature.  As  observations  in  meteorology  bring  us . 
nearer  and  nearer  to  the  realization  that  every  change 
in  the  weather  depends  on  fixed  laws,  and  that  even 
the  variable  winds  and  electric  storms  obey  an  invari- 
able force,  so  the  study  of  man's  nature  tends  to 
prove  that  what  seems  accidental  and  irregular  in 
character  and  conduct  may  be  in  accordance  with 


64  ESSAYS 

persistent  forces  understood  and  applied  by  superior 
wisdom.  Men  are  alike  in  elementary  constitution, 
but  diverse  in  development.  From  unity  education 
produces  infinite  variety.  Nature  seems  to  abhor 
sameness.  She  differentiates,  and  we  err  when  we 
oppose  her  method. 

The  organization  of  the  human  being  is  so  in- 
tricate, so  complicated,  so  multitudinous,  that  science 
is  foiled  in  her  attempts  to  discover  the  law  of  its 
operation.  Here  is  a  clock-work  which  no  one  but 
the  maker  understands.  It  has  been  running  for 
thousands  of  years, — some  say  for  millions,  —  and 
yet  it  has  not  revealed  the  mystery  of  its  structure. 
We  can  see  the  index  moving,  but  we  cannot  see  the 
wheels  and  springs,  the  weights  and  pulleys,  within. 
We  observe  eccentric  attachments,  but  know  not 
how  they  are  organically  connected  with  the  machine. 
We  may  break  open  the  case,  and  curiously  pry 
within,  and  learnedly  name  the  parts,  — protoplasm, 
and  gray  matter,  and  nerve-force ;  but,  alas  !  when 
the  clock  is  broken,  it  is  not  a  clock. 

The  most  pedagogical  pedagogue  must  frankly  own 
that  man  is  a  mystery.  But  this  mystery  is  not  all 
mysterious.  Some  things  we  know,  and  much  we 
may  learn,  and  all  is  known  to  the  Creator.  Using 
what  we  know,  learning  what  we  can,  and  trusting 
Him  for  the  rest,  let  us  enter  our  schoolrooms  and 
do  our  work 


NATURE  THE  SOVEREIGN  SCHOOLMISTRESS    65 
II. 

Much  time  is  wasted  at  school  in  attempting  to 
teach  children  what  they  are  not  old  enough  to  learn. 
The  farmer  is  not  so  unwise  as  to  plant  corn  in 
January.  And  how  foolish  the  parent  or  teacher 
who  thinks  to* grow,  in  the  child's  brain,  the  reason- 
ing powers,  the  conscience,  the  moral  sense,  before 
the  season  !  When  my  pupil  was  six  years  old  he 
could  not  comprehend  the  simple  elements  of  arith- 
metic and  grammar,  though  he  studied  by  the  hour, 
and  stained  his  slate  with  tears.  When  he  was 
twelve  he  found  no  difficulty  in  elementary  ^arith- 
metic and  grammar  ;  and  he  wondered  that  he  had 
ever  regarded  these  studies  with  disgust.  Nature, 
thou  patient  schoolmistress,  why  didst  thou  not 
teach  me  not  to  teach  ? 

We  do  not  look  for  ripe  fruit  on  succulent  sprouts. 
Why  expect  the  elaborate  essence  of  morality  in 
early  youth?  Green  apples  are  bitter  and  sour. 
The  fond  mother  weeps  at  what  she  deems  the 
depravity  of  her  young  son.  Remember  the  boy  is  a 
boy,  not  a  man.  He  is  yet  in  the  savage  state  of  his 
individual  life.  The  marvellous  insight  of  Plato 
long  ago  discovered  the  real  state  of  the  case. 
"The  boy  is  the  most  unmanageable  of  all  animals. 
He  is  the  most  insidious,  sharp-witted,  and  insub- 
ordinate of  animals/*  But  hear  how  the  wise  Greek 
explained  the  fact.  The  boy  is  thus,  because  "  he  has 
the  fountain  of  reason  in  him  not  yet  regulated." 


66  ESSAYS 

Yes,  boyhood  is  the  primitive  period  of  human 
life.  It  is  a  heroic  age,  a  dramatic  era,  a  time  of 
war  and  love,  but  not  civilized,  much  less  enlightened. 
Shall  we  call  it  the  Thor  period,  of  which  the  lead- 
ing idea  is  hammer?  Boy  as  boy  is  interesting  to 
contemplate,  but  who  could  bear  to  exist  with  a 
perpetual  boy  ?  He  is  a  never-ending  noise,  and 
a  ceaseless  explosion  of  dynamitical  violence.  Our 
mental  ejaculation  to  the  average  boy  is  that  of 
Dickens's  benevolent  Cheeryble  to  his  brother  : 
"  Devil  take  you,  Ned,  God  bless  you  !  " 

Have  patience  with  these  obdurate  young  brethren. 
Their  ugly  transitional  traits  will  not  last.  Let  the 
surgent  blood  leap  while  it  will,  and  let  the  animal 
grow.  Bear  and  forbear.  Yes,  be  thankful  that 
Sam  is  Thor,  hammering  thunder  out  of  the  sky ; 
not  pale  Narcissus,  drooping  by  the  brook  of  death. 
The  finer  principles  of  benevolence,  pity,  piety, 
gentleness,  self-sacrifice,  are  of  slow  culture.  You, 
there,  who  sit  at  the  teacher's  desk,  have  you  quite 
tamed  the  savage  in  you  ? 

Trust  Mother  Nature  to  punish  the  boys.  Gracious 
Matron  !  she  forever  whispers  deep  lessons  tcr  their 
hearts.  Sam  weeps  on  her  consolatory  bosom,  after 
disdaining  his  mother's  plea,  his  father's  condemna- 
tion, and  his  master's  rod.  Yes,  rigorous  yet  gentle 
nature  knows  the  boys  will  not  forever  stone  the 
pigs,  slay  the  cats,  and  pull  off  the  birds'  heads  ; 
they  will  not  always  monopolize  the  nicest  of  the 
apples,  and  beat  their  sisters  for  reporting  the  facts. 


NATURE    THE    SOVEREIGN    SCHOOLMISTRESS  6/ 

Experience  discovers  limitations  to  their  tyranny, 
and  teaches  even  their  selfishness  to  seek  gratifica- 
tion in  less  objectionable  ways.  They  throw  away 
the  Thor  hammer  of  their  own  accord,  seeing  it  is 
not  the  best  instrument  with  which  to  win  hap- 
piness. 

The  farmer  finds  it  almost  impossible  to  crush, 
with  roller,  harrow,  and  hoe,  the  stubborn  clods  of 
his  field ;  but  under  the  action  of  rain,  frost, 
sunshine,  and  gravity,  how  often  those  same 
stubborn  clods  fall  to  pieces  of  themselves,  and 
crumble  down  about  the  roots  of  the  wheat  and  the 
barley !  So  the  teacher  finds  it  difficult  to  subdue 
and  reform  incorrigible  propensities  that,  if  left 
alone,  will  soften,  yield,  and  disappear,  under  the 
beneficent  influences  which  commonly  bear  ftpon 
youth.  How  many  efficient  assistants  every  teacher 
might  have  if  he-  were  wise  enough  to  recognize 
them  !  The  first  assistant  ought  always  to  be  the 
teacher's  own  pupil.  Ah !  I  spoke  without  reflec- 
tion, and  should  have  said  the  teacher  is  only  first 
assistant  to  the  learner ;  for  real  education  must 
always  be,  in  the  main,  self-help. 

in. 

He  who  co-operates  with  nature  in  the  work  of 
educating  the  young  will  discover  that  nature's  text- 
book is  illuminated  on  every  page  with  the  inspiring 
word,  Freedom.  Freedom  is  the  best  good.  Freedom 
is  good  for  the  body,  good  for  the  soul,  good  for 


05  ESSAYS 

man — for  each  organ  and  part  of  him,  even  to  the 
minutest  atom  that  enters  into  his  composition,  and 
for  every  motion  of  life  or  spirit  that  stirs  his  being. 
Freedom  is  strength,  activity,  life, — loss  of  freedom 
is  feebleness,  paralysis,  death.  Freedom  is  neither 
license  nor  constraint ;  neither  stimulation  nor  stu- 
pefaction ;  nor  the  condition  of  the  over-nourished, 
hot-house  plant,  nor  of  the  neglected  weed  by  the 
barren  wayside  ;  nor  of  the  rank,  untended  wild  vine 
of  the  forest ;  but  it  is  the  state  of  the  cultivated 
vegetation  of  the  fertile,  sunny  garden  bed.  Free- 
dom is  the  condition  which  allows  man  to  become 
his  perfect  self  in  the  happiest  way.  It  is  favorable 
opportunity  to  conform  to  the  law  of  individuality, 
to  adjust  man's  faculties  to  their  natural  and  proper 
use?  to  seek  and  find  one's  own  physical  and  spiritual 
heritage,  and  to  reach  the  full  stature  of  independent 
manhood.  Freedom  is  not  the, right  to  do  as  you 
please  ;  it  is  the  liberty  to  do  and  become  what  you 
are  capable  of  in  the  legitimate  exercise  of  your  own 
powers  —  the  privilege  of  obeying  the  eternal  com- 
mandments inscribed  by  the  Creator  upon  your 
members  and  your  mind.  Freedom,  ideal  and  abso- 
lute, is  the  glorious  liberty  of  the  sons  of  God. 

There  can  be  no  true  obedience  without  freedom. 
To  obey  the  laws  of  health  I  must  be  permitted  to 
obtain  proper  food,  practise  suitable  exercise,  breathe 
pure  air,  and  sleep  in  peace.  The  mind's  health, 
also,  requires  wholesome  surroundings  and  oppor- 
tunity to  enjoy  them.  Elegantly  has  Holmes  elabo- 


NATURE    THE    SOVEREIGN    SCHOOLMISTRESS         69 

rated  an  old,  familiar  figure  illustrating  my  subject: 
"Look  at  the  flower  of  a  morning  glory  the  evening 
before  the  dawn  which  is  to  see  it  unfold.  The  deli- 
cate petals  are  twisted  into  a  spiral  which,  at  the 
appointed  hour,  when  the  sunlight  touches  the  hid- 
den springs  of  its  life,  will  uncoil  itself,  and  let  the 
daylight  into  the  chambers  of  its  virgin  heart.  But 
the  spiral  must  unwind  by  its  own  law,  and  the  hand 
that  shall  try  to  hasten  the  process  will  only  spoil 
the  blossom  that  would  have  expanded  in  symmet- 
rical beauty  under  the  rosy  fingers  of  the  morning." 

Not  only  must  the  plant  blossom  in  its  own  way, 
it  must  remain  of  its  own  species.  Shall  one  say  in 
obstinate  pride  or  blind  conceit,  "  I  will  make  of  this 
plant  what  I  please.  I  will  conform  it  to  my  ideal,  — 
it  shall  bear  peaches,  —  it  shall  bloom  roses, — it 
shall  ripen  corn, — it  shall  grow,  like  Jack's  bean,  a 
hundred  miles  high,  —  it  shall  be  a  creeping  moss  "  ? 
Or  shall  we  reflect,  with  humility,  as  co-workers  with 
God,  "  What  will  come  of  this  marvellous  perennial 
that  I  am  permitted  to  train  ?  What  lovely  and  here- 
tofore unheard-of  blossom  may  it  unfold  ?  How  can 
I  best  nurture  and  protect  its  tender  leaves  ?  How 
can  I  discover  what  soil,  situation,  and  culture  are 
best  adapted  to  it  ?  " 

Let  us  emancipate  ourselves  from  the  slavery  of  a 
mechanical  system  which  ignores  nature,  forgets 
God,  and  reduces  us  to  tasked  operatives,  supervis- 
ing a  spinning-jenny.  Emancipate  the  children  from 
the  tread-mill  task  of  grinding  out  lessons  for  the 


7O  ESSAYS 

sake  of  recording  the  grists.  Lead  them  back  to 
the  freedom  of  nature ;  make  them  conscious  of 
mind,  thought,  affection,  duty,  and  joy.  Feed  them 
not  on  husks,  but  call  them  to  the  fruity  orchard  of 
vital  knowledge,  and  to  the  flowing  waters  of  living 
virtue.  Measure  success,  not  by  the  number  of  sub- 
jects taught,  but  by  the  number  of  minds  roused  to 
action.  Count  it  no  merit  to  have  "passed  "  a  class 
with  an  average  per  cent  of  99,  unless  you  can  claim 
also  that  the  class  has  learned  to  love  learning. 
Show  one  boy  or  one  girl  whom  you  have  induced  to 
study  as  a  pleasure  rather  than  a  tax,  and  you  de- 
serve the  crown  of  praise.  Make  of  this  boy  an 
original  man ;  make  of  this  girl  a  woman  whose 
mind  to  her  shall  Kingdom  be,  and  no  crown  of 
praise  can  add  glory  to  your  brow. 

Oh,  that  some  blessed  revival  could  come  upon  the 
brain  and  heart  of  our  profession;  could  fall  like 
sunlight  from  heaven  and  illuminate  and  warm  us 
for  our  duty  !  For  we  forget  the  principal  things  we 
should  remember.  We  lapse  into  unconsciousness 
of  our  greatest  privileges.  The  teacher  should  more 
than  teach,  more  than  govern,  more  than  love ; 
he  should  inspire  his  school.  Inspire,  breathe  into 
the  pupil  the  animative  principle,  the  soul-breath,  the 
awakening  spirit  that  gives  consciousness  of  the 
need  of  activity,  power,  culture,  education. 


TOPICS    OF   THE   TIME  71 


VI 

TOPICS    OF   THE   TIME 

i.  "EXPERIMENTS  OF  LIGHT" 

"God,  on  the  first  day  of  creation,  created  light 
only,  giving  to  that  work  an  entire  day,  in  which  no 
material  substance  was  created.  So  must  we  like- 
wise, from  experience  of  every  kind,  first  endeavor 
to  discover  true  causes  and  axioms,  and  seek  for  ex- 
periments of  light,  not  for  experiments  of  fruit. 
For  axioms  rightly  discovered  and  established  supply 
practice  with  its  instruments,  not  one  by  one,  but  in 
clusters,  and  draw  after  them  trains  and  troops  of 
works." 

This  text,  from  that  inspired,  philosophic  bible, 
Bacon's  "  Novum  Organum,"  suggests  a  sermon,  not 
more  important  to  the  scientific  explorer  than  to  the 
practical  educator.  That  ignorant  men  should  fail 
to  see  the  worth  of  "  Experiments  of  Light  "  is  to 
be  expected,  for  they  do  not  reason  far  enough  to 
comprehend  general  principles.  But  that  educated 
men  —  men  educated  to  educate  others  —  should 
hold  a  prejudice  against  such  "experiments"  is 
almost  incredible.  Yet  we  know  that  many  teachers 
do  mistrust  and  disparage  speculative  discussions  on 


72  ESSAYS 

pedagogics,  and  emphatically  call  for  "  experiments 
of  fruit"  before  "experiments  of  light." 

It  is  noticeable  that  the  majority  of  those  who 
attend  teachers'  institutes  and  normal  schools  seek 
methods  rather  than  systems,  and  are  impatient  with 
even  the  most  fruitful  axioms,  though  grateful  for 
even  the  barrenest  rule  or  regulation  to  imitate. 
Young  teachers  are  apt  to  regard  the  very  terms 
Theory  and  Practice  as  antithetic.  What  is  theo- 
retical they  assume  is  impractical.  To  such  an 
opinion  a  wise  rebuke  is  to  be  found  in  a  very  ancient 
Hindoo  poem,  in  which  the  deity  himself  is  made 
to  say,  "  Children  only,  and  not  the  learned,  speak 
of  the  speculative  and  the  practical  doctrines  as 
two." 

All  intelligent  practice  must  grow  out  of  theory  ; 
that  is  to  say,  thought  must  precede  correct  action. 
That  workman  bungles  who  does  what  he  is  told 
without  knowing  why  he  does  it.  The  teacher  who 
follows  his  master's  advice,  not  comprehending  the 
motive,  aim,  and  end  of  that  advice,  can  never  suc- 
ceed. Such  a  teacher  is  an  automaton  —  a  mechan- 
ism of  springs  and  wheels  that  must  soon  run  down 
and  cannot  wind  itself  up  again. 

Imitating  what  another  does  is  not  doing,  but  only 
pretending  to  do.  The  teacher's  art,  like  all  arts, 
depends  on  its  science.  How  profoundly  true  and 
how  encouraging  is  Bacon's  assertion  that  "theories 
supply  practice  with  its  instruments,  not  one  by  one, 
but  in  clusters,  and  draw  after  them  trains  and  troops 
of  works" 


TOPICS    OF    THE    TIME  73 

No  sadder  delusion  can  becloud  the  brain  than 
that  broad,  philosophical  thinking  unfits  the  thinker 
for  practical  details  of  work.  Experience  proves 
that  the  men  who  comprehend  subjects  in  their  gen- 
eral relations  are  the  men  who  set  a  true  value  on 
particulars. 

How  may  a  teacher  train  a  mind  if  he  doesn't 
know  what  mind  is  ?  How  can  he  educate  without 
conceiving  an  idea  of  education  in  the  abstract  ?  In 
a  word,  what  is  it  to  acquire  the  teacher's  profession 
if  it  be  not  to  master  a  comprehensive  science ; 
namely,  the  science  of  teaching?* 

To  possess  a  good  education  is  not  to  be  a  good 
educator.  The  teacher  should  possess  knowledge  — 
the  more  the  better  —  for,  as  Goethe  says,  "  There 
is  nothing  more  frightful  than  a  teacher  who  knows 
only  what  his  scholars  are  intended  to  know."  But 
no  amount  of  learning  minus  the  science  of  educa- 
tion can  make  a  person  master  of  the  teacher's  pro- 
fession. The  knowledge  that  distinguishes  the  edu- 
cator from  other  educated  men  is  the  knowledge  of 
the  principles  of  pedagogics,  theoretic  and  applied. 

The  physician  who  thoroughly  understands  anat- 
omy, physiology,  chemistry,  medicine,  surgery,  who 
has  studied  the  body  in  health  and  disease,  is  pre- 
pared to  practise  his  art. 

The  lawyer  who  comprehends  the  fundamental 
principles  of  law  and  justice,  who  realizes  the  full 
meaning  of  his  text-books,  is  ready  to  undertake  a 
suit  in  court. 


74  ESSAYS 

The  teacher  who  has  patiently  examined  the  his- 
tory, philosophy,  and  literature  of  education,  who  has 
formed  a  definite  conception  of  the  human  faculties, 
and  of  why  and  how  they  may  be  developed  best, 
may  begin  to  teach  school. 

The  objection  that  the  region  of  speculative  ped- 
agogics is  a  land  of  fogs,  should  incite  explorers  to 
clearer  discoveries.  If  we  must  walk  in  the  fog,  it 
is  better  to  light  a  lantern.  Better,  it  would  seem, 
to  pursue  the  divine  method  recommended  by  Bacon, 
and  illuminate  our  way.  And  if  the  teacher  must 
choose  between  the  visionary  and  the  empirical,  is  it 
not  barely  possible  that  the  visionary  may  prove 
the  more  hopeful  of  the  two  ?  Happier  he  who  sees 
visions  and  dreams  dreams  of  professional  progress 
than  he  who  is  content  to  plod  on,  not  knowing  or 
caring  whither  his  steps  tend,  not  sure  that  they  tend 
any  whither  except  around  a  tread-mill. 

2.     BOTH    SIDES    ARE    RIGHT. 

There  is  much  wisdom  in  taking  both  sides  of  a 
disputed  question,  not  in  a  partisan,  but  in  a  philo- 
sophic spirit,  and  by  taking  both  sides,  learning  the 
truth  and  the  error  each  contains.  Every  debatable 
question  is  debatable  because  its  affirmative  and  its 
negative  statement  both  appear  right  to  some  and 
wrong  to  others,  and  may,  in  fact,  both  be  true  and 
both  false  in  some  part  or  degree. 

Dogmas  in  political  economy,  sociology,  ethics, 
religion,  education,  are  seldom  absolutely  demon- 


TOPICS    OF    THE    TIME  75 

strable,  by  logical  process,  like  a  mathematical  prop- 
osition. The  science  of  pedagogics  is  not  yet  an 
exact  science.  The  scope  of  it  is  infinite  ;  the  themes 
it  discusses  are  too  numerous  and  complicated  and 
too  subtle  to  be  caught  in  the  net  of  definition. 

How  admirable  is  that  magnanimity  which,  while 
sincerely  holding  its  own  view,  and  even  ready  to  die 
for  its  convictions,  can  yet  candidly  say,  "  The  other 
view  may  be  right,  and,  if  I  saw  so,  I  would  change/' 

The  conflict  of  theories,  in  the  pedagogical  arena, 
is  productive  of  practical  good  ;  and  every  attempt  to 
deduce  first  principles  in  education  is  a  step  in  the 
direction  of  reform.  Yet  it  is  never  to  be  forgotten 
that  theory  is  theory,  and  is  true  only  so  far  as  it  can 
be  verified  by  fact.  We  must  have  theories  in  edu- 
cation, as  in  physics  or  chemistry,  and  for  the  same 
reason  ;  namely,  to  give  unity  and  direction  to  our 
work. 

A  favorite  dogma  in  the  modern  science  of  educa- 
tion appears  to  be  that  the  purpose  of  schooling  is 
not  learning  but  development.  Pupils  used  to  go  to 
school  to  store  their  minds  with  knowledge  ;  now 
they  go,  as  we  say,  to  strengthen  their  faculties,  to 
cultivate  the  power  of  thought  and  the  habit  of  duty. 

Are  not  both  ideas  correct,  and  is  there  not  danger 
that,  in  putting  so  much  emphasis  on  the  new  state- 
ment, we  may  underrate  the  value  of  the  old  ?  The 
end  of  education  is  the  same  now  as  it  used  to  be  ; 
that  is,  to  benefit  the  educated  individual  by  impart- 
ing to  him  knowledge,  in  which  process  power  must 


76  ESSAYS 

necessarily  be  imparted.  There  is  no  such  thing 
conceivable  as  mind-development  unaccompanied  by 
the  acquisition  of  ideas.  Learning  is  the  food  of  the 
brain  by  which  all  thought  and  feeling  are  nourished. 
The  measure  of  a  mind's  actual  knowledge  will  be 
also  the  measure  of  its  acquired  ability.  A  confusion 
arises,  in  our  reasoning,  from  misunderstanding  what 
is  meant  by  knowledge.  Knowledge  means  more 
than  the  memorized  facts.  The  scholar  comprehends 
principles,  causes,  effects,  differences,  similarities, 
and  all  the  relations  and  combinations  of  facts. 

The  protest  against  mechanical  education,  against 
cramming  and  working  for  per  cents,  is  timely,  and 
cannot  be  too  strongly  put.  This  protest,  however, 
is  hurled,  properly,  not  against  knowledge,  but  against 
a  false  method  of  imparting  knowledge.  If  the 
mechanical  methods  were  successful  in  conveying 
knowledge,  the  fact  that  they  are  mechanical  would 
not  stand  against  them.  If  you  can  cram  knowledge 
into  the  children,  in  God's  name  do  it ;  but  you  cannot. 
The  student  who  is  crammed  is  not  intelligent ;  he 
does  not  know  facts  ;  he  gains  neither  information 
nor  discipline.  There  is  no  mechanical  way  of  pro- 
ducing intellectual  results.  Dean  Swift's  Academy 
of  Laputa  is  not  what  is,  but  only  what  Gulliver  saw. 
Why  should  we  try  the  experiment  of  writing  a  geo- 
metrical problem  on  a  wafer  and  compelling  our 
pupil  to  swallow  it,  in  order  to  impress  the  demon- 
stration on  his  brain  ? 

Fire  hot  volleys  all  along  the  line  of  discussion, 


TOPICS    OF   THE   TIME  77 

against  the  stupid,  old  or  new  methods  of  teaching ; 
but  have  a  care  that  you  do  not  hit  what  you  do  not 
aim  at,  and  wound  the  dignity  of  solid  learning. 
Both  sides  are  right.  The  object  of  education  is  to 
store  the  mind  with  knowledge,  and  it  is  also  to 
develop  mental  power  and  moral  character.  The 
acquisition  and  retention  of  exact,  systematic,  true, 
good  and  beautiful  knowledge  create  a  clear  mind 
and  a  pure  heart.  Knowledge  and  power  are  one  ; 
they  coalesce  and  become  wisdom,  the  prize  that  is 
precious  above  rubies. 

3.    DISCO. 

Disco  means  to  know,  to  learn,  in  the  widest  sense. 
From  the  word  are  derived  disciple,  a  learner,  and 
discipline,  learning,  or  the  result  of  learning.  Disci- 
pline and  knowledge  are  one. 

When,  therefore,  we  speak  of  subjects  as  having 
special  value  in  disciplining  the  mind,  we  do  not  mean 
that  such  subjects  are  of  a  different  nature  from 
other  kinds  of  knowledge,  or  that  they  can  be  learned 
or  used  in  a  peculiar  way.  That  scholar  is  disciplined, 
in  a  degree,  who  knows  how  to  calculate  the  interest 
on  a  note,  or  how  to  roast  a  turkey.  Discipline  is 
required  in  order  to  write  one's  own  name,  or  to  tell 
the  difference  between  a  ball  and  a  cube.  Greater 
discipline  is  called  for  in  doing  more  difficult  things, 
or  thinking  more  difficult  thoughts. 

One  must  learn  before  he  can  do.     The  more  one 


7  ESSAYS 

learns  the  more  can  he  do.  All  knowledge  is  disci- 
pline ;  there  is  no  discipline  outside  of  knowledge. 

It  is  a  delusion  to  suppose  that  mental  power  can 
be  acquired  by  any  exercise  of  the  faculties  that  does 
not  imply  the  possession  of  ideas.  How  can  we  con- 
ceive of  a  mathematical  ability  severed  from  a  com- 
prehension of  mathematics?  or  of  logical  skill  with- 
out logic  ?  or  of  linguistic  power  apart  from  knowl- 
edge of  language  ?  To  assume  that  the  results  of 
knowledge  can  be  obtained  without  knowledge  is  to 
assume  that  the  whole  is  less  than  the  sum  of  its 
parts. 

All  knowledge  is  not  of  equal  value,  but  power 
comes  only  in  proportion  to  acquisition.  The  ques- 
tion is  not,  Can  knowledge  and  discipline  be  sepa- 
rated ?  but,  What  knowledge,  i.e.,  discipline,  is  most 
valuable  ? 

The  original  forms  in  which  a  certain  kind  of 
knowledge  may  have  entered  the  mind  may  be  oblit- 
erated or  forgotten,  while  the  essential  knowledge 
may  be  retained,  as  an  algebraic  formula  contains,  in 
permanent,  usable  result,  many  particular  examples 
once  solved  but  afterwards  not  thought  of.  The 
mastery  of  the  formula  was  the  binding  of  many 
straws  into  one  sheaf  —  was  gathering  knowledge  in 
principle. 

This  grasping  of  principles  or  general  truths  is 
what  scholars  understand  by  mental  discipline.  There 
is  no  royal  road  to  it.  There  is  no  short  road  to  it. 
There  is  no  smooth  road  to  it.  The  superficial  and 
inaccurate  student  can  never  attain  it. 


TOPICS    OF    THE    TIME  79 

Teachers  and  learners  should  divest  themselves  of 
the  notion  that  education  is  only  a  key  to  unlock  the 
treasury  of  knowledge,  or  that  discipline  consists  in 
the  mere  effort  of  unlocking  a  treasury.  Education 
is  not  the  key  or  the  treasury  —  it  is  key,  treasury, 
and  treasure. 

4.    NATURAL    ABILITY    PLUS    EDUCATION. 

Going  to  school  or  college  may  indeed  spoil  the 
boy,  but  good  education  spoils  him  not.  The  for- 
tune left  to  young  Princely  was  his  ruin,  yet  how 
good  a  thing  is  money ! 

Education  may  subtract  some  efficient  qualities 
from  natural  ability,  but  adds  ten  where  it  takes 
away  one.  The  wild  peach  has  lovelier  blossoms  and 
fruit  of  more  piquant  flavor  than  the  cultivated  tree, 
yet  the  latter  is  most  valued.  An  edge-tool,  as 
Quintilian  says,  loses  something  in  the  process  of 
sharpening,  but  who  therefore  thinks  a  dull  tool  is 
best  ?  The  marble  loses  substance  and  strength 
when  hewn  into  a  statue.  Rough  stone  is  better 
adapted  to  some  purposes  than  polished  blocks, 
nevertheless  the  polished  block  is  alone  fit  for  finest 
uses. 

What  can  a  keen  blade  do  that  a  dull  one  cannot  ? 
What  can  a  microscope  do  that  the  naked  eye  can- 
not ?  The  dull  knife  may  be  fine  steel ;  it  must  be 
sharpened,  tempered,  ground,  whetted  for  the  engrav- 
er's hand  or  the  surgeon's.  The  shaping,  tempering, 
grinding,  whetting  educate  the  good  steel  for  its 


8O  ESSAYS 

exquisite  functions.  Something  is  lost,  much  is 
gained.  The  eye  must  be  a  good  eye  before  it  can 
be  helped  by  the  microscope  or  the  telescope ;  but 
never  can  the  naked  eye,  however  good,  see  a  blood 
corpuscle  or  the  rings  of  Saturn.  Optical  instru- 
ments magnify  and  multiply  vision. 

Uncultured  natural  talent  or  genius  is  the  naked 
eye,  the  native  iron.  Education  cannot  create  origi- 
nal force.  Falstaff  longed  to  know  where  a  "  com- 
modity of  good  names  could  be  bought."  'Tis  easier 
to  buy  a  good  name  than  a  good  capacity.  Schools 
cannot  furnish  the  stuff ;  they  only  manufacture  it. 
Out  of  pot-metal  pots  can  be  made  —  most  excellent 
pots.  Damascus  steel  will  make  Damascus  blades. 

Every  mind  is  bettered  by  correct  education  ;  the 
greater  the  natural  ability  the  more  right  culture 
will  add. 

5.    THE    QUICK    COAL. 

"  Man  is  no  starre,  but  a  quick  coal 

Of  mortal  fire  : 
Who  blows  it  not,  nor  doth  controll 

A  faint  desire, 
Lets  his- own  ashes  choke  his  soul." 

These  quaint  but  piercing  lines  from  rare  George 
Herbert's  poem  "  Employment  "  afford  the  student 
a  warning,  the  scholar  an  incentive.  Activity  is  the 
price  of  culture ;  the  intellect  must  be  kept  alive  by 
the  breath  of  the  will  ;  the  faculties  disused  fall  to 
decay.  It  is  a  common  observation  that  mechanical 


TOPICS    OF    THE    TIME  8 1 

skill  is  acquired  and  retained  only  by  habitual  prac- 
tice. Wilhelmj,  the  celebrated  violinist,  said  :  "If  I 
remit  rehearsal  for  one  day,  I  am  conscious  of  dete- 
rioration ;  if  I  neglect  practice  for  two  days,  the 
critics  observe  it ;  if  I  neglect  for  three  days,  my 
audience  notice  it."  The  right  hand  loses  its  cun- 
ning, so  also  do  the  memory,  the  inventive  faculty, 
the  reasoning  power.  I  used  to  know  how,  but  I 
forget  —  I  have  lost  facility.  Facts  and  processes 
acquired  at  school  seem  to  vanish  from  the  mind. 
One  man  discovers  with  dismay  that  his  Greek  and 
Latin  have  flitted  from  him  ;  another  cannot  recall 
the  once  familiar  method  of  solving  a  quadratic 
equation.  One  says,  "  I  am  rusty  ; "  another  says, 
"  The  cares  of  this  world  choke  out  the  seeds  of 
culture."  And  so  they  do.  Culture  is  a  jealous 
god,  and  demands  earnest  and  constant  worship. 
To  him  that  hath  shall  be  given,  and  from  him  that 
hath  not  shall  be  taken  away.  Old  Confucius  said, 
"  Learn  as  if  you  could  not  reach  your  object,  and 
were  always  fearing,  also,  lest  you  should  lose  it." 
And  again,  "  If  a  man  keeps  cherishing  his  old 
knowledge,  so  as  to  be  constantly  acquiring  new,  he 
may  be  a  teacher  of  others." 

The  student's  soul  may  be  all  aglow  at  the  end 
of  his  school  days.  The  day  after  commencement 
brings  a  crisis.  Will  the  "honor  man"  then  blow 
the  quick  coal  without  his  teachers'  prompting  ? 
without  the  enthusiasm  of  class  influences  ?  without 
the  motives  which  emulation  and  ambition  create  ? 


82  ESSAYS 

Will  he  control  a  faint  desire  for  self-improvement, 
or  will  he  let  his  own  ashes  choke  his  soul?  —  his 
own  ashes  :  sordid  pursuits,  sensual  pleasures,  dull 
indolence. 

6.    DOES    IT    EDUCATE  ? 

The  core  of  one  of  Matthew  Arnold's  best  books 
is  that  "  The  object  of  religion  is  conduct,"  conduct 
being  at  least  three-fourths  of  life.  The  object  of 
education  —  the  main  object  —  is  conduct.  The  men 
and  women  that  the  teachers  make  of  boys  and  girls 
at  school  should  be  men  and  women  who  can  do  the 
things  of  common  life  well,  whether  these  things  be 
of  the  hand,  the  head,  or  the  heart.  Conduct  is  the 
art  of  living.  What  is  it  that  we  value  most  in  our 
fellow-beings  ?  Is  it  not  their  facility  in  doing  daily 
and  hourly  duties  in  a  happy  and  generous  way  ? 
We  like  the  person  who  is  able  and  agreeable  ;  who 
applies  his  nature  and  his  acquired  powers  to  doing 
right  things  pleasantly. 

The  child  should  learn  to  speak  because  speech  is 
conduct,  is  the  means  of  humanization,  concord,  love, 
and  social  service.  He  should  learn  to  read  for  the 
good  that  reading  may  do  to  himself  and  to  others  ; 
for  the  meliorating,  civilizing,  sweetening  use  of 
books.  He  should  write  in  order  to  write  legibly, 
easily,  for  the  convenience  of  life.  To  think  clearly, 
to  desire  purely,  to  perform  beautifully, — these  are 
the  purposes  of  training. 

All   that  is   attempted   or  done   in  giving   tasks, 


TOPICS    OF    THE    TIME  83 

hearing  recitations,  advising  or  restraining  pupils, 
should  aim  at  the  golden  centre  of  the  target  — 
conduct.  That  is  the  best  subject  to  teach  which 
imparts  the  most  usable  knowledge  of  the  most 
durable  kind  for  common  practice  in  affairs.  That 
text-book  is  best  which  wastes  the  least  time  on  non- 
essentials.  Give  something  to  each  pupil  at  every 
lesson-time,  —  something  worth  giving, — and  that 
will  fashion  his  life  in  some  degree  for  the  better. 
Clinch  the  nail  instruction.  Illuminate  the  boy's 
mind.  Quicken  his  moral  perception.  Sweeten  his 
disposition.  Modulate  and  beautify  his  manner.  Do 
anything  and  everything  that  will  tend  to  make  him 
a  lucid-minded,  clean-hearted,  versatile,  thoroughly 
useful  and  happy  citizen  of  the  earth,  heaven-bound. 

The  branches  of  learning,  as  we  call  them,  are  all 
one  in  their  grand  purpose.  They  may  all  be  com- 
mitted to  memory  and  do  no  good.  To  learn  is  to 
learn.  The  book  must  be  poured  into  the  very 
veins  of  the  pupil  and  circulated  through  him  from 
brain  to  finger-nail.  What  is  needed  is  the  juice  of 
the  book,  not  the  husk.  He  who  teaches  arithmetic 
well  has  taught  all  mathematics  by  anticipation. 
Who  teaches  the  First  Reader  rightly  has  given 
his  pupil  a  clew  to  Shakespeare,  to  Herodotus,  to 
Confucius.  Education  is  all  one  —  it  is  feeding  a 
soul,  it  is  bestowing  upon  faculties  the  readiest  and 
noblest  use  of  their  functions. 

The  school  should  put  its  pupils  at  once  into  the 
conscious  exercise  of  their  educable  organs,  habits, 


84  ESSAYS 

ideals.  To-day  this  girl  ought  to  walk,  talk,  look, 
think,  feel,  wish,  hope,  better  than  she  did  yesterday. 
These  children,  when  they  quit  school,  must  move 
in  the  world  —  work,  play,  earn,  spend,  sustain  a 
thousand  relations  to  others.  They  must  do  their 
tasks,  they  must  bear  their  burdens,  they  must  live 
the  life,  die  the  death,  and  leave  the  record  of  a 
mortal. 

Education  should  fit  them  for  all  this.     Does  it  ? 

/.    THE    BEGINNINGS    OF    EDUCATION. 

It  is  curious  to  observe  the  first  efforts  of  the 
child  to  exercise  his  powers  and  enlarge  his  range 
of  experience.  He  begins  to  manifest  his  innate 
tendency  to  do  something,  and  to  connect  his  little 
intelligence  with  things  around  him,  by  vague, 
unsteady  motions  of  limbs  and  body,  and  by  inartic- 
ulate crying  or  crowing.  The  tiny  fingers  presently 
become  busy.  The  baby  picks  and  pries  into  every- 
thing, makes  his  mouth  a  universal  test-tube,  tears 
paper,  throws  his  spoon,  likes  to  make  something 
tumble.  His  activity  is  incessant,  like  his  quick 
heart-beats.  He  rolls  and  sprawls,  he  babbles  and 
blinks.  The  first  attempts  to  walk  are  most  feeble 
and  ludicrous.  After  hundreds  of  trials  he  learns  to 
creep.  After  thousands  of  falls  he  is  able  to  stand. 
How  little  control  he  has  over  his  motions  !  Start- 
ing to  go  forward,  he  staggers  backwards  —  tipsy 
fellow  ! 

The  child's  endeavor  to  utter  words  is  as  wide  of 


TOPICS    OF    THE    TIME  85 

its  aim  as  the  primary  efforts  to  handle  or  to  walk. 
The  organs  of  speech  are  unformed,  —  still  less 
formed  the  mind-power  which  sets  the  machine  in 
motion.  Nature  prompts  the  infant  to  imitate,  and 
he  makes  the  oddest  approximations  to  correct 
speech.  The  tongue  and  lips  must  clamber  and 
stumble,  as  do  the  puny  hands  and  feet. 

The  later  attempts  and  struggles  of  the  boy  to  ac- 
quire a  surer  and  stronger  control  over  his  muscles, 
nerves,  and  mental  faculties,  are  very  similar  to  the 
earlier  trials  of  the  infant.  The  boy  of  ten  is  a 
baby  when  he  grapples  with  hard  studies  or  difficult 
arts.  The  mind  is  trained  to  severer  thinking  by 
repetition  and  practice  only.  And  what'  are  the 
highest  mental  exertions  of  the  logician  or  philoso- 
pher ?  They  are  baby  endeavors  to  stand  on  in- 
secure ground,  with  unsteady  feet  —  baby  efforts  to 
articulate  unfamiliar  language.  The  whole  course 
of  education,  from  first  to  last,  seems  to  be  a  series 
of  endeavors  and  approximations  —  a  training  of  the 
faculties  to  higher  and  higher  uses.  The  baby 
begins,  but  he  has  eternity  to  progress  in. 

8.  EDUCATION  AND  TEMPERANCE. 

The  most  profoundly  efficacious  "  temperance  man  " 
is  the  temperate  man.  Not  by  wind-power,  nor  by 
water-power,  but  by  power  of  example  he  reforms 
others.  His  practice  preaches.  His  conduct  is  a 
moral  prohibitory  act.  His  influence  enforces  con- 
stitutional amendments  to  the  habits  of  his  asso- 
ciates and  observers. 


86  ESSAYS 

Self-control  is  temperance.  The  mind  should  be 
the  body's  king.  The  temperate  man  is  temperate 
at  the  top.  He  reasons,  decides,  and  then  acts. 
He  administers  the  laws'  of  moderation  to  his  sub- 
jects, the  desires.  Two  giants,  Will  and  Won't, 
guard  his  appetites  and  propensities  as  the  .lion- 
tamer  rules  caged  beasts  ;  they  drive  or  stop  his  pas- 
sions, those  flying  fire-steeds  of  the  brain.  These 
desires,  these  appetites,  these  propensities,  these 
passions  are  the  driving-wheels  of  character.  They 
are  the  heat,  light,  electricity  of  the  human  engine, 
all  convertible  into  beneficent  working  force,  yet 
ever  liable  to  produce  conflagration,  explosion,  and 
death. 

Man  should  be  educated  to  run  his  own  machine, 
namely,  his  body,  according  to  the  laws  of  its  struc- 
ture. The  greatest  man,  when  he  loses  self-control, 
makes  the  greatest  wreck  and  ruin.  'Tis  the  con- 
summation of  wisdom  to  conserve  human  power. 

Few  take  the  trouble  to  be  moderate.  Eternal 
vigilance  is  the  price  of  liberty  in  the  world  of  indi- 
vidual existence.  The  moment  a  man  ceases  to  set 
sentries  at  the  gates  of  his  palace,  the  enemy  will 
steal  in.  The  temperance  pledge  must  be  taken 
anew  every  hour  and  kept  every  minute.  License, 
excess,  dissipation  are  every  man's  enemy  always. 
Whosoever  is  out  of  temptation  is  out  of  this  world. 
Temperance  is  as  difficult  as  climbing  a  mountain,  or 
rowing  against  the  stream.  We  float  or  fall  to  the 
devil,  but  we  toil  and  sweat  on  the  road  to  redemp- 


TOPICS    OF    THE   TIME  87 

tion.  The  oarsman  is  a  fool  who  complains  because 
the  stream  flows  downward  ;  it  is  right  that  the 
stream  flow  downward  and  necessary  that  the  oars- 
man pull  hard  against  the  rapid. 

A  temperate  life  is  the  consequence  of  a  good  edu- 
cation. A  good  education  gives  men  self-control. 
A  good  education  means  correct  habits  early  begun 
and  firmly  established.  Sensuality,  drunkenness, 
lust  are  dreadful  diseases,  hardly  curable  ;  but  they 
are  preventable.  Physicians  use  what  they  call 
"prophylactics  "  to  lessen  the  probability  of  disease. 
The  prophylactic  for  intemperance  is  education,  — 
moral  education.  Begin  with  the  children. 

9.    UNIVERSAL    EDUCATION. 

Education  cannot  Confer  every  benefit  upon  a 
nation,  but  it  can  confer  incalculable  good.  Neither 
population  nor  products,  money  nor~machinery,  bul- 
lets nor  ballots,  will  secure  lasting  prosperity  to  any 
people.  Nor  will  all  these  together  secure  it,  unless 
they  become  the  agents  of  general  intelligence  and 
sound  morality.  True  education  has  never  disap- 
pointed the  expectations  of  individual, /'community, 
or  State.  It  has  always  helped  man  in  proportion  to 
his  faithfulness  in  seeking  its  good  offices.  The 
more  general  the  diffusion  of  knowledge  among  the 
multitude  and  the  higher  the  popular  standard  of 
education,  the  better  in  every  way  will  be  the  con- 
dition of  man,  whether  in  private  or  public  life. 
Vast  material  resources,  unless  controlled  by  intel- 


88  ESSAYS 

lectual  and  moral  influences,  are  as_sy stems  of  worlds 
destitute  of  the  attraction  of  gravitation.  Education 
is  not  everything  ;  yet  without  it  a  nation  is  nothing. 
They  who  put  their  trust  in  legislation  as  a  sure 
means  of  maintaining  good  and  preventing  evil,  are 
no  wiser  than  they  who  have  implicit  faith  in  the 
saving  power  of  wealth  and  enterprise.  Solon,  when 
asked  if  he  had  given  the  Athenians  the  best  laws, 
replied  :  "  Yes  ;  the  best  the  Athenians  are  capable 
of  receiving."  In  a  republic  the  citizens  fashion  the 
government  more  than  the  government  fashions  the 
citizens.  They  are  their  own  Solons,  and  dictate 
laws  for  themselves.  But  they  cannot  devise  laws 
above  their  own  capacity,  nor  will  they  obey  such 
laws.  Constitutions  and  statutes,  banks  and  rail- 
roads, farms  and  warehouses,  reflect  the  spirit  and 
character  of  the  men  who  make  and  manage  them. 
Acts  of  Congress  and  decisions  of  courts  are  only 
marks  upon  the  barometer  scale  of  Popular  Opinion, 
and  serve  to  indicate  the  state  of  the  intellectual  and 
moral  atmosphere.  It  is  vain  to  expect  wisdom 
and  purity  to  rule  at  the  Capitol  unless  wisdom  and 
purity  dwell  at  our  firesides.  Party  corruption  rages 
among  the  ignorant  and  vicious,  as  cholera  infects 
the  weak  and  debauched.  Only  education  can  depose 
spurious  office-holders  and  amend  evil  measures. 
Intelligence  desires  excellent  rule  —  petitions  for 
reform  of  abuses — is  a  good  law  unto  itself  when 
thrown  upon  its  own  option.  Ignorance  hates  all 
rule  — demands  license  —  demands  anarchy  —  gravi- 


TOPICS    OF    THE    TIME  89 

tates  to  barbarism.  No  statesmanship  can  save  an 
ignorant  people  from  ruin.  Exclaims  the  historian, 
Michelet,  "  What  is  the  first  part  of  politics?  Edu- 
cation. And  the  second?  Education.  And  the 
third  ?  Education." 

There  are  multitudes  of  uneducated  men  and 
women  in  the  United  States.  They  weaken  society, 
as  rotten  threads  impair  the  fabric  in  which  they  are 
woven.  And  there  are  other  multitudes  so  poorly 
and  superficially  educated  that  they  are  not  capable  of 
intelligent  self-government.  This  nation,  notwith- 
standing its  boasted  educational  facilities,  permits 
the  existence  of  an  immense  class  of  foreigners, 
native  whites,  and  negroes,  who  can  neither  read  nor 
write,  not  to  speak  of  that  yet  larger  class  of  persons 
who,  though  they  read  and  write,  are  far  from  being 
able  to  think  rationally  or  act  virtuously.  These 
classes  are  hostile  to  good  institutions,  whether  they 
know  it  or  not,  whether  they  wish  to  be  so  or  not. 
The  State  must  lift  them  up  or  they  will  drag  it 
down.  Universal  suffrage  is  a  doubtful  good,  unless 
accompanied  by  universal  education.  To  extend  the 
right  of  voting  to  the  ignorant  is  to  open  new  fields 
to  the  spoliating  hands  of  the  demagogue.  Would 
we  have  the  freedman  appreciate  his  privilege  ?  Edu- 
cate him.  Would  we  better  the  condition  of  woman  ? 
Educate  her,  and  she  will  better  her  condition  for 
herself.  Would  we  save  the  expense  of  poorhouse 
and  prison  ?  We  must  incur  the  expense  of  school- 
houses  and  library.  Would  we  avoid  civil  war,  estab- 


go  ESSAYS 

lish  business  upon  a  sure  basis,  abolish  the  evils  of 
caste,  repress  sensuality,  and  induce  men  and  women 
to  live  rational,  beneficial,  and  happy  lives  ?  We 
must  let  education  do  its  perfect  work  for  high  and 
low,  rich  and  poor,  male  and  female,  black  and  white. 

General  education  is  general  uplifting.  The  more 
complete  the  culture,  the  higher  the  elevation.  Uni- 
versal and  complete  education/is  universal  and  com- 
plete elevation —  is  human  perfection  on  earth— is 
the  millennium  of  enthusiasts  realized. 

Material  resources  may  fail,  banks  break,  and  cor- 
porations go  down  ;  trade  may  languish,  and  mechanic 
invention  slumber  ;  blight  may  fasten  upon  the  grain- 
fields,  and  drought  dwindle  the  running  streams;  the 
army  may  disband,  and  the  navy  lie  idle  upon  the 
barren  sea ;  courts  and  congress  may  dissolve,  and 
the  sacred  ballot-box  moulder  from  disuse  —  but  yon 
humble  schoolhouse  must  not  be  abandoned  nor  neg- 
lected. To  sacrifice  that  were  fatal  indeed.  To  stab 
the  people's  Free  School  is  to  pierce  our  country  in 
the  heart  —  is  matricide. 


BOOKS     AND    READING  QI 


VII 

BOOKS    AND    READING^ 

BOOKS,  the  main  instruments  with  which  teachers 
work,  are  themselves  substitutes  for  teachers.  "  The 
true  University  of  these  days  is  a  Collection  of 
Books,"  said  Carlyle ;  and  Emerson  repeated  the 
same  idea  in  other  language. 

"  Strong  book-mindedness,"  as  Wordsworth  forci- 
bly calls  it,  is  a  great,  if  not  the  greatest,  element  of 
scholarship  and  means  of  education.  The  student 
graduates  from  the  seminary,  but  from  the  library 
never.  Original  men  begin  self-education  where 
school  education  ends.  Books  are  their  post-col- 
legiate professors. 

The  ignorant  disparage  book-knowledge  ;  but,  in 
fact,  books  teach  everything  except,  as  Bacon  says, 
"their  own  use."  He  who  knows  how  to  use  books 
.  efficaciously  has  acquired  a  fruitful  art.  Books  are 
repositories  of  universal  experience.  They  record 
the  wisdom  and  the  folly  of  mankind.  They  perpet- 
uate generations.  In  them  the  past  lives  and  the 
present  moves.  Whatever  men  know  or  do,  books 
tell.  A  book  is  an  image  of  the  mind  that  conceived 
it.  Authors  reproduce  themselves  in  their  writings. 
Books  are  phonographs  that  repeat  the  message  origi- 


92  ESSAYS 

nally  received  by  them.  Do  not  printed  pages  com- 
municate to  us  the  diverse  brain  product  of  the  race  ? 
They  instruct,  argue,  exhort,  and  amuse.  They  phi- 
losophize—  they  prattle ;  they  soothe  —  they  inflame; 
they  laugh  —  they  lament. 

Plato  objects  to  written  discourses  ;  that  they,  like 
pictures,  though  seeming  to  possess  life,  are  silent,  and 
answer  no  questions.  They  do  not  continue  the  dis- 
cussions in  which  they  have  awakened  our  interest ; 
cannot  explain  or  defend  themselves  when  challenged. 
This  disadvantage  of  books  is  counterbalanced  by 
the  negative  merit  that  they  do  not  take  offence 
when  shut  up,  and  have  not  the  tenacious  persistence 
of  a  living  bore.  A  man  cannot  always  choose  his 
flesh-and-blood  companions  ;  but  his  associates  in 
printer's  ink  he  may  command  absolutely.  The 
humblest  reader  may  own  the  highest  book. 

Though  books  are  silent,  their  voices  are  audible 
to  imagination.  The  charm  of  Plato  illustrates  this. 
The  art  of  his  Dialogue  is  such  that  it  illudes  the 
senses.  The  reader  is  absorbed,  rapt ;  he  walks  with 
Socrates  and  Phaedrus  by  the  Ilissus  and  worships 
Pan.  He  reclines  at  the  Symposium  in  the  house 
of  Agathon,  hearing  eloquent  discourse  of  love,  and 
is  disturbed  and  amused  by  the  troop  of  revellers 
led  by  tipsy  Alcibiades.  He  stands  in  the  court 
listening  with  breathless  attention  to  the  unavailing 
Apology  ;  he  beholds  Socrates  drain  the  cup  of  hem- 
lock, and  hears  the  last  dying  syllables  of  the  tranquil 
martyr. 


BOOKS    AND    READING  93 

My  bookcase  is  like  the  enchanted  table  in  Faust, 
from  which,  at  pleasure,  were  drawn  Rhenish  wine, 
champagne,  Tokay. 

"  The  choice  is  free :  make  up  your  minds." 

Would  I  taste  the  vintage  of  science  or  history  or 
philosophy?  Here  are  the  works  of  the  masters. 
Here,  in  little  space,  is  the  labor  of  a  life.  Spencer's 
forty  years  of  toil  and  thought  are  in  those  few  vol- 
umes. There  is  Bacon.  There  is  Gibbon.  What 
did  Milton  say?  ''Books  are  not  absolutely  dead 
things,  but  doe  contain  a  potencie  of  life  in  them  to 
be  as  active  as  that  soul  whose  progeny  they  are  ; 
nay,  they  doe  preserve  as  in  a  vial  the  purest  efficasie 
and  extraction  of  that  living  intellect  that  bred 
them." 

Here  are  the  essayists,  the  novelists,  the  poets, 
the  dramatists.  They  proffer  the  honey  and  wine  of 
their  genius.  I  have  only  to  wish.  I  have  only  to 
take  my  books  from  the  shelves,  and  sit  down,  and 
read. 

Do  I  desire  to  hear  eloquent  speeches  ?  These 
volumes  pass  me  to  the  floors  of  senate,  parliament, 
court.  I  may  call  for  whatever  eloquent  orator  I 
prefer,  living  or  dead,  and  he  will  make  for  me  his 
greatest  effort.  Stand  up,  Demosthenes,  and  while 
away  my  time. 

Where  shall  we  go  to  church  to-day  ?  Already 
have  Spurgeon  and  Beecher  been  to  my  house  this 
morning,  flying  on  the  wings  of  the  press,  and  they 


94  ESSAYS 

have  prayed  and  preached  the  prayer  and  the  sermon 
of  the  living  present.  This  afternoon  I  shall  hear 
Jeremy  Taylor. 

Milton  uses  the  word  "unbookishness  "  to  denote 
a  certain  rudeness  of  mind.  In  these  days  it  is  a 
disgrace  not  to  be  able  to  read.  A  taste  for  reading 
is  regarded  as  a  mark  of  refinement.  The  mere 
" dipper  into  books"  takes  higher  rank  than  his  wholly 
illiterate  neighbor.  Victor  Hugo  gives  a  quasi  dig- 
nity to  an  unlettered  oddity,  by  making  him  delight 
in  knowing  simply  the  names  of  philosophers  and 
poets.  The  smatterer  is  a  plane  above  the  ignora- 
mus. A  little  knowledge  is  not  dangerous,  though 
danger  is  incurred  by  mistaking  a  taste  of  the  Pie- 
rian Spring  for  a  deep  draught.  Even  the  wish  to 
learn  is  commendable. 

To  possess  books  is  not  to  possess  their  contents. 
An  author's  writings  are  properly  called  his  works. 
It  takes  work  to  compose  a  substantial  book,  and 
proportional  work  to  read  it.  How  presumptuous 
that  I  should  expect  to  understand  in  a  day  the 
volume  I  could  not  have  produced  in  a  lifetime ! 

Sir  Walter  Scott  says  in  "Waverley,"  "  I  believe 
one  reason  why  such  numerous  instances  of  erudition 
occur  among  the  lower  ranks  is,  that  with  the  same 
powers  of  mind  the  poor  student  is  limited  to  a  nar- 
row circle  for  indulging  his  passion  for  books  and 
must  necessarily  make  himself  master  of  the  few  he 
possesses  ere  he  can  acquire  more."  Michelet  says, 
"Th2  workman  loves  his  books,  because  he  has  few 


BOOKS    AND    READING  95 

of  them.  Maybe  he  has  but  one ;  and  if  it  be  a 
sound  work,  he  gets  on  all  the  better  for  having  but 
one.  One  book  read  and  read  over  again,  which  you 
ruminate  upon  and  digest,  often  develops  the  intellect 
more  than  a  vast,  indigested  mass  of  reading.  I 
lived  for  years  with  a  Virgil,  and  found  my  account 
in  it." 

The  "  Autobiography  "  of  Stuart  Mill,  in  its  "rec- 
ord of  an  education  that  was  unusual  and  remark- 
.able,"  shows  what  an  enormous  amount  of  difficult 
reading  one  man  may  do  thoroughly.  The  complete 
and  exact  reading  of  one  solid  book  makes  the  read- 
ing of  a  second  easier.  An  experienced  student, 
whose  mind  is  disciplined  by  systematic  application, 
acquires  a  grasp  and  facility  of  thought  that  bears 
him  on  rapidly  through  labored  discussions  and  intri- 
cate mazes  of  knowledge.  The  scholar,  like  the 
artisan,  must  take  time  and  pains  to  learn  the  use  of 
his  implements. 

With  what  varying  results  do  different  readers 
peruse  the  same  book!  One  man  brings  riches  from 
a  barren  page ;  another  comes  away  poor  from  the 
very  treasure-troves  of  literature.  There  are  few 
mental  phenomena  more  puzzling  than  that  of  a  sane 
man  or  woman  reading  by  rote  from  a  sense  of  duty. 
Is  it  not  extremely  curious  that  any  one  should  con- 
ceive it  to  be  a  virtue  merely  to  read  perfunctorily, 
automatically,  without  comprehending  the  words 
seen  or  uttered  ?  Yet  this  is  done,  not  only  by 
school-children,  in  their  parrot-like  lessons,  but  also 


96  ESSAYS 

out  of  school,  by  grown  people  who  seem  to  have 
good  sense  on  other  matters.  Persons  impose  upon 
themselves  the  weary  task  of  poring  over  number- 
less, bulky  volumes  of  history  or  science,  under  the- 
delusion  that  they  are  improving  their  minds,  when, 
in  fact,  they  are  only  wasting  precious  time,  and 
inflaming  their  eyes.  I  once  knew  a  young  school- 
master who  had  got  it  into  his  conscientious  pate  that 
reading  was  the  proper  thing  to  do,  and  that  the  more 
pages  he  pronounced,  the  more  nearly  he  discharged 
his  duty  to  himself,  his  profession,  his  country,  and 
mankind.  He  plodded  through  Josephus,  Rollin, 
andx  Dick's  works  with  incredible  patience,  and  with 
a  scrupulous  attention  to  notes  and  references  that 
was  morally  sublime.  No  tome  was  too  massy  for 
him  ;  no  subject  was  out  of  his  range.  He  would 
not  have  hesitated,  I  am  sure,  to  undertake  the 
national  poem  of  the  Kalmucks,  which  De  Quincey 
says  measures  seventeen  English  miles  in  length. 
I  can  hear  the  sigh  of  tired  triumph  with  which 
Josiah  (for  that  was  his  name)  closed  a  finished 
volume  of  Patent  Office  Reports.  "There!"  he 
exclaimed,  "  I  am  through  that !  "  On  a  well-remem- 
bered occasion  a  roguish  girl  put  Josiah's  bookmark 
from  volume  ii.  of  Kane's  " Arctic  Explorations"  to 
the  corresponding  page  in  volume  i.  The  patient 
plodder,  when  he  came  home  from  school  on  the  day 
of  this  trick,  turned  to  the  bookmark  and  continued 
reading  the  whole  evening,  unconscious  that  he  was 
reviewing  what  he  had  gone  over  a  week  or  so  before. 


BOOKS    AND    READING  g/ 

When,  however,  the  sly  maid  by  whose  stratagem  he 
lost  so  much  time,  demurely  asked  in  her  Quaker 
fashion,  "  How  does  thee  like  Dr.  Kane?"  Josiah 
answered  that  it  seemed  to  him  there  was  a  good 
deal  of  sameness  in  the  book. 

The  young  schoolmaster  regarded  himself  as  a 
remarkably  well-read  man.  He  plumed  himself  on 
his  useful  reading.  He  imagined  that  he  derived 
from  books  as  much  benefit  as  any  person  what- 
ever. Yet  he  no  -more  assimilated  his  crude  acqui- 
sitions than  the  mill-stone  assimilates  the  corn  it 
grinds.  The  corn  wears  out  the  mill-stone,  giving 
it  a  mealy  smell ;  the  books  wore  out  the  young 
man,  imparting  to  him  only  the  faintest  odor  of 
literary  culture. 

Reading,  if  it  answers  its  true  end,  nourishes  and 
vitalizes  the  mind  ;  it  goes  into  the  intellectual  cir- 
culation, and  is  secreted  in  new  forms  of  thought, 
imagination,  and  emotion.  It  quickens  the  percep- 
tive powers  and  deepens  the  reflective.  He  who 
reads  profitably  absorbs  from  his  book  such  ideas 
and  such  use  of  language  as  are  adapted  to  his 
capacity  and  want.  He  reads  actively,  consciously  : 
every  increment  of  knowledge  falls  into  its  place 
and  becomes  usable.  The  more  facts  he  accumu- 
lates, the  better  does  he  see  the  value  and  bearings 
of  each. 

The  reader  who  speaks  or  writes  may  unknowingly 
appropriate  the  ideas  and  even  the  sentences  of 
his  favorite  books.  It  sometimes  happens  that 


98  ESSAYS 

what  one  has  read  in  his  youth  and  forgotten 
comes  back  by  some  subtle  association,  rising  in  the 
mature  mind  as  if  formed  there.  No  writer  alto- 
gether avoids  betraying  the  dominant  influence  of 
the  "books  that  educate  him.  The  tendency  to  imi- 
tate that  which  we  strongly  admire  is  almost  irre- 
sistible. Carlyle  is  original  to  a  fault,  —  defiantly 
original,  —  and  yet  critics  say  Richter's  style  reap- 
pears in  Herr  Teufeldrockh.  Originality  of  lan- 
guage does  not  consist  in  artful  arrangement  of 
words,  much  less  in  paraphrase.  It  depends  upon 
the  organic  structure  of  the  idea  expressed,  and 
upon  the  form  in  which  that  idea  figures  itself  on 
the  mirror  of  conception.  The  mode  of  expression 
is  dictated  at  once  by  the  commanding  thought 
itself.  Seneca  says,  "  Great  thought  must  have 
suitable  expression  ;  and  there  ought  to  be  a  kind 
of  transport  in  the  one  to  answer  to  the  other." 
Perhaps  a  man's  most  original  thoughts  are  those 
he  is  least  conscious  of  evolving.  As  dead,  struc- 
tureless chyle  becomes  living,  cellular  blood,  through 
the  operation  of  biological  causes,  so  knowledge 
changes  to  thought  —  originality  is  the  vitalization 
of  the  mind's  food  ;  it  is  the  last  process  of  mental 
digestion. 

Literary  history  does  not  show  that  invention 
flags  as  erudition  advances.  On  the  contrary,  the 
great  writers  have  been,  generally,  great  readers. 
Rabelais,  Cervantes,  Montaigne,  —  men  of  their  class 
—  feed  themselves  on  books. 


BOOKS    AND    READING  99 

To  understand  an  author,  we  must  understand 
more  than  his  words.  We  must  seize  the  spirit 
of  his  thought.  His  words  are  the  best  vehicles 
the  writer  could  command  to  carry  to  us  his  mean- 
ing. But  be  sure,  no  thinker  ever  was  satisfied  with 
the  words  he  uses.  Days  of  thinking  brought  to 
the  printed  page  one  or  two  sentences.  Reading 
those  sentences,  we  may  be  provoked  or  allured  to 
other  days  of  thinking.  The  ability  to  think  is  the 
measure  of  our  natural  capacity  with  the  effects  of 
education  superadded.  To  read  much  and  think 
little  may  weaken  the  mind,  not  strengthen  it.  You 
cannot  always  have  a  book  to  read,  or  a  companion 
to  talk  with  ;  but  you  can  think  without  book  or 
companion,  by  daylight  or  in  darkness,  with  or  with- 
out the  aid  of  the  senses.  The  mind  takes  up  no 
room  in  a  travelling-bag,  and  yet  it  holds  the  world 
and  all.  It  holds  the  thinking  apparatus. 

The  book  that  stimulates  and  enlightens  Julius 
may  prove  intolerable  to  Felix.  Lady  Jane  Grey 
likes  Plato,  Matthew  Arnold  likes  Burke,  Ruskin 
likes  Coventry  Patmore.  Beecher  declares  that  for 
twenty  years  Herbert  Spencer's  works  had  been 
"  meat  and  bread  "  to  him.  Macaulay,  a  gormand 
of  books,  praises  many,  but  places  the  seventh  book 
of  Thucydides  above  all  others.  He  calls  it  "  the  ne 
plus  ultra  of  human  art."  Carlyle  names  the  Book 
of  Job  as  the  first  of  literary  productions. 

Ruskin  says  in  one  of  the  two  charming  lectures 
in  "  Sesame  and  Lilies  "  (a  book  of  diamond  lustre 


IOO  ESSAYS 

and  value),  "  And  if  she  can  have  access  to  a  good 
library  of  old  and  classical  books,  there  need  be  no 
choosing  at  all ;  .  .  .  turn  your  girl  loose  into  the  old 
library  every  wet  day,  and  let  her  alone." 

The  formation  of  a  library  of  standard  books  in 
every  private  house  would  work  wonders  in  educa- 
tion and  culture.  The  presence  of  books  in  a  house 
is  civilizing.  The  father  who  provides  wholesome 
mental  food  for  his  family  performs  a  duty  at  once 
political,  social,  and  individual.  He  supports  his 
children's  souls.  Fortunate  the  youth  whose  days 
and  nights  are,  in  part,  given  to  the  dignified  in- 
fluences of  high  literature. 


IN    THE    LIBRARY. 

.     .     .     "  Loved  associates,  chiefs  of  elder  art, 
Teachers  of  wisdom."  — Roscoe. 


Once  more  the  task-imposing  sun 
His  proud  imperious  course  has  run. 
I  saw  his  blood-red  royal  crown 
Beyond  the  dreary  hills  sink  down  ; 
While  from  a  chariot  of  cloud, 
Her  stormy  trumpet  sounding  loud, 
The  Amazonian  Night  made  war 
Against  the  moon  and  every  star. 

My  jealous  curtains,  drooping,  hide 
Repose  within  from  storm  outside. 
Rave  on,  thou  wintry  tempest !  beat 
The  flying  snow  from  street  to  street; 


BOOKS    AND    READING  IOI 

Against  the  rattling  shutter  dash, 
And  madly  buffet  window  sash ; 
Thy  baffled  pinions  strive  in  vain 
My  still  retreat  serene  to  gain. 
A  safe  redoubt  this  study  chair, 
From  arrows  of  the  icy  air ; 
My  tranquil  Argand's  yellow  ray 
Creates  a  supernatural  day  ; 
My  Youghiogheny  sunshine  glows 
Defiance  to  the  boreal  snows, 
And,  flushing,  fills  my  tropic  room 
With  rays  that  make  the  roses  bloom. 

Hence,  haggard  cares  that  vex  the  day, 
Blind  aches  of  head  and  heart,  away  ! 
Vague  sorrows  that  the  memory  haunt, 
Pale  ghosts  of  early  griefs,  avaunt ! 
Forebodings  of  disastrous  things, 
Ye  phantom  brood,  take  wings,  take  wings  ! 
All  sordid  thoughts  of  loss  or  gain, 
Alluring  hopes,  ambitions  vain, 
Delusive  dreams  —  whatever  ye  be, 
Depart  and  leave  my  spirit  free, 
For  I  would  consecrate  the  hour 
To  books  and  their  restoring  power  ! 

II. 

Here,  in  my  social  solitude, 

I  make  a  new  beatitude  : 

And  Blessed  are  the  Books,  I  say ; 

The  Muses'  harvest  sheaves  are  they; 

They  are  the  vials  that  contain 

The  attar  of  Time's  heart  and  brain, 

The  fragrance  of  the  blossomed  hours, 

One  drop  drained  from  a  hundred  flowers ; 

The  sacred  lanterns  that  emit 

The  light  of  science,  wisdom,  wit ; 

The  caskets  and  the  shrines  that  hold 

Thought's  diadems  and  learning's  gold ; 


IO2  ESSAYS 

The  full-brimmed  beakers  whence  is  quaffed 
Imagination's  sparkling  draught; 
The  living-fountain-heads,  where  move 
Deep  waters  of  perennial  love. 

Enchanted  heroes  of  the  pen, 

These  books  are  living  souls  of  men  ; 

Awake  !  illustrious  guests,  spellbound, 

Ye  sons  of  genius,  laurel  crowned, 

Your  long,  mysterious  silence  break; 

I  conjure  you,  arouse  !  awake  ! 

Lo  !  from  each  scroll  and  massy  tome 

The  spirits  of  the  masters  come  ! 

They  consecrate  my  humble  home ! 

Immortal  sages,  seers,  and  bards; 

They  utter  inspiration's  words  ; 

They  whisper  meanings  manifold 

That  printed  pages  never  told; 

They  break  the  esoteric  seal, 

And  occult  mysteries  reveal ; 

My  marred  ideals  they  renew  ; 

They  speak,  they  sing  the  good  and  true; 

As  many  stars  give  one  pure  light, 

Their  diverse  messages  unite  ; 

Me  to  my  fate  they  reconcile, 

And  prove  life  worth  the  living,  while 

Their  lofty  faith  and  converse  high 

Assure  me  soul  can  never  die. 


in. 

My  Youghiogheny  coal  aglow 
Illumes  my  treasures  row  on  row ; 
There  Plato  stands,  half  deified  ; 
There  Burke  and  Bacon,  side  by  side ; 
Intense  Carlyle  by  Goethe  great ; 
There  Shakespeare  grand  —  for  him  no  mate; 
Montaigne  and  white-light  Emerson ; 
Cervantes,  Spain's  immortal  one ; 


BOOKS    AND    READING  103 

Wit  Fielding  and  French  Hugo,  too, 

Elected  with  the  Golden  Few; 

There  genial  Dickens,  clad  in  green, 

Beside  romantic  Scott  is  seen ; 

Satiric  Thackeray  is  there, 

And  introspective  Hawthorne  rare ; 

The  poets,  too,  a  troop  divine, 

From  honored  shelves  and  alcoves  shine ; 

And  all  these  precious  leaves  are  mine. 

IV. 

No  bookworm  blind  and  cold  am  I ; 
No  friend  to  grim  misanthropy. 
That  author  best  contents  my  mind 
Who  draws  me  nearest  to  mankind. 
Not  with  a  scientific  greed, 
For  store  of  useful  facts  I  read ; 
Not  with  a  pedant's  pride,  to  know 
That  I  my  ample  lore  may  show  ; 
Not  with  a  worldling's  lust  of  gain, 
To  gather  gold  by  moil  of  brain  ; 
Not  with  the  critic's  art,  to  scan, 
And  praise  or  blame  because  I  can  ;  — 
Not  do  I  pore  for  ends  like  these ; 
I  read  my  books  myself  to  please. 
The  wise  King  Solomon,  I  wis, 
Said  ne'er  a  sager  thing  than  this : 
"  Eat  honey,  thou,  for  it  is  good." 
Sweet  reading  is  a  dainty  food  ; 
Good  honey  is  my  book  to  me  — 
My  author  is  good  honey  bee  ; 
Good  honey,  and  because  'tis  sweet, 
That  is  the  reason  why  I  eat. 


Reposing  in  my  charmed  chair, 
I  exorcise  the  demon  Care ; 
All  yesterdays  are  past  and  gone, 
And  never  did  to-morrow  dawn  ; 


IO4  ESSAYS 

Is  not  this  moment  infinite  ? 

Here,  now,  immortal  do  I  sit. 

Without  is  black  December  night ; 

Within  is  summer  warmth  and  light; 

I  bend  my  fond,  contented  looks 

On  glimmering  titles  of  my.  books, 

As  from  the  shelves  they  shine  to  me 

In  mute  and  dreamy  sympathy. 

"  We  are  all  here,"  they  seem  to  say, 

"  Not  comrades  of  a  fleeting  day, 

But  friends,  unalienable,  old, 

Yet  young  forever,  and  warm-souled." 

My  soul,  exalted,  answers,  "  Yes, 

Ye  are  the  sons  of  blessedness." 

I  find  upon  the  lettered  page 

More  than  the  fabled  Golden  Age, 

More  than  did  Jove's  symposia  yield 

To  Lucian  in  the  Elysian  Field, 

For  all  the  best  that  men  have  thought 

Or  hoped  or  dreamed,  have  letters  caught, 

And  God's  own  revelations  shine 

From  holy  books  in  words  divine. 


UNCLASSIFIED    TRIFLES  IO5 


VIII 

UNCLASSIFIED   TRIFLES 

I.    STRAY    THOUGHTS 

MANY  teachers  of  morality  destroy  the  good  effect 
of  judicious  counsel  by  too  much  talk,  as  a  chemical 
precipitate  is  re-dissolved  in  an  excess  of  the  precip- 
itating agent.  

Repression  is  sometimes  better  than  expansion. 
A  rose  is  but  a  crowded  cluster  of  repressed  leaves. 


Wild  fruits  lose  an- exquisite  flavor  by  the  garden 
culture  which  causes  them  to  become  large  and  beau- 
tiful. So  the  mind  may  lose  agreeable  qualities  by 
the  process  of  education. 


In  burning  delicate  pottery  the  utmost  care  is 
taken  to  regulate  the  temperature  of  the  oven,  as 
excess  or  insufficiency  of  heat  ruins  the  ware.  Simi- 
larly, the  nicest  judgment  is  requisite  in  disciplining 
sensitive  children,  for  one  may  injure  their  very 
nature  by  too  much  or  too  little  severity.  Virgil 
says  the  same  fire  that  makes  soft  clay  hard  makes 
hard  wax  soft. 


IO6  ESSAYS 

A  successful  fruit-grower  was  asked  how  it  hap- 
pened that  he  always  obtained  an  abundant  crop  of 
peaches  while  his  neighbors,  with  apparently  better 
facilities,  so  often  failed  to  raise  even  half  a  crop, 
and  never  got  superior  fruit.  He  replied  :  "I  know 
my  trees  ;  they  tell  me  what  they  want ;  I  have  a 
special  interest  in  every  twig  of  this  orchard.  A 
peach-tree  won't  produce  unless  it  is  loved." 

If  love  brings  forth  the  best  that  is  in  trees,  will 
it  not  much  more  develop  the  best  that  is  in  men  ? 


Some  people  practise  their  virtues    so  viciously 
that  it  is  a  pity  they  have  virtues  to  abuse. 


Books  are  called  the  tools  of  teachers.     Teachers 
may  become  the  tools  of  books. 


Children  are  pleased  with  gay  prints  of  high  color 
and  with  the  discordant,  loud  melody  of  the  grind- 
organ.  Gairish,  gaudy  hues  and  noisy  sounds  pain 
the  cultivated  senses.  As  the  eye  and  ear  learn  to 
discriminate  between  harmony  and  inharmony,  taste 
grows  more  exacting.  In  like  manner  mental  train- 
ing brings  the  mind  to  desire  truth  and  enables  it  to 
detect  and  abhor  error.  The  scholar  demands  cohe- 
rence and  logical  connection  of  words.  To  the 
trained  thinker  a  bad  argument  jars  on  the  mind  as 
an  instrument  out  of  tune  distresses  the  ear.  Educa- 


UNCLASSIFIED    TRIFLES  IO? 

tion  puts  the  mind  in  tune  so  that  its  strings  answer 
to  corresponding  chords  of  truth. 


It  would  seem  reasonable  that  the  teacher  should 
be  recognized  everywhere  as  the  highest  authority 
on  the  subject  of  education,  and  that  he  should  dic- 
tate how  his  pupils  ought  to  be  trained.  In  Germany 
that  parent  is  considered  impertinent  who  advises 
the  professor  in  regard  to  pedagogical  matters.  In 
this  country  everybody  considers  it  anybody's  busi- 
ness to  teach  the  teacher.  Editors,  clergymen,  doc- 
tors, lawyers,  merchants,  mechanics,  farmers,  —  all 
know  how  to  teach  school  better  than  the  school- 
master does,  and  they  all  interfere,  injudiciously, 
with  his  art.  There  should  be  co-operation  between 
parent  and  teacher,  but  the  school  must  proceed 
on  general  principles  to  which  the  individuality  of 
families  and  single  pupils  must  conform. 


Wherefore  fret  if  heedless  Tom 
Loses  half  the  words  I  say  ? 

What  if  sometimes  dreamy  Ben 
Fails  to  learn  his  algebra  ? 

Culture  is  not  everything  ; 

Farmers  must  not  always  hoe  ; 
Undisturbed  the  roots  of  mind 

Oftentimes  the  deepest  grow. 

Action  is  not  always  gain  ; 

Crystals  form  when  left  at  rest; 
What  the  teacher  leaves  undone 

May  perchance  be  done  the  best. 


IO8  ESSAYS 


Haply  inattentive  Tom 

Thinks  a  thought  beyond  my  reach ; 
Peradventure  Ben  may  dream 

More  than  algebra  can  teach. 


Purer  than  the  mountain  'dew,  whiter  than  sky- 
born  flakes  be  the  atmosphere  of  education.  The 
sentiment  and  the  language  of  instruction  should  be 
such  that  no  blot  or  Stain  can  touch  the  soul  of  the 
pupil.  A  holy  light  should  pervade  tuition.  Might 
not  boys  and  girls  grow  up  with  principles  so  sensi- 
tive to  truth  and  purity  that  they  would  be  forever 
self-shielded  from  the  false  and  the  foul  ? 

They  are  benefactors  of  youth  who  use  pure  words. 
"Is  not  mine  host  a  witty  man  ?"  asks  the  hunter 
of  the  fisherman  in  Walton's  "  Angler."  The  fisher- 
man replies,  "  To  speak  truly,  he  is  not  to  me  a  good 
companion.  A  companion  that  feasts  his  company 
with  wit  and  mirth,  and  leaves  out  the  sin  which  is 
usually  mixed  with  them,  he  is  the  man.  And  let  me 
tell  you,  good  company  and  good  discourse  are  the  very 
sinews  of  virtue.  ~Butfor  snch  discourse  as  we  heard 
last  night,  it  infects  ottrtrs." 

Whatever  is  obscene,  vulgar,  degrading,  or  of 
questionable  delicacy,  infects  the  young.  Blood  poi- 
soning is  not  so  perilous  as  mind  poisoning.  What 
germicide  can  destroy  the  microbe  vile  imagination  ? 
We  know  temptation  must  be  met,  nevertheless,"  lead 
us  not  into  temptation."  The  school  is  the  temple 
of  safety.  Within  its  sacred  walls  we  are  delivered 
from  evil.  There  only  good  counsels  and  examples 


UNCLASSIFIED    TRIFLES  IOQ 

and  books  and  pictures  and  symbols  should  come. 
There  every  low  desire  and  every  tainted  fancy 
should  feel  rebuked.  There  purity,  like  a  guardian 
angel,  should  abide. 

We  wish  our  sons  and  daughters  to  become  supe- 
rior men  and  women,  and  hope  that  school  education 
will  contribute  to  that  result.  Therefore  parents 
confide  in  teachers  with  anxious  trust.  The  teacher 
stands  in  the  parents'  place,  and  has  been  called  the 
parent  of  his  pupil's  mind. 

Yet  the  teacher's  responsibility  is  much  limited  ; 
he  is,  at  most,  but  minister  plenipotentiary,  not  chief 
ruler.  Seven-eighths  of  the  school-boy's  hours  are 
disposed  of  by  direct  will  of  parents  —  only  one- 
eighth  under  the  immediate  control  of  the  teacher. 
No  amount  of  vigilance  can  secure  the  true  ends  of 
education  without  vigilant  home  rule  at  the  hearth- 
stone. It  is  hardly  to  be  expected  that  any  teacher 
can  maintain  a  stronger  influence  with  his  pupil  than 
an  equally  intelligent  and  conscientious  parent  can 
exercise  over  his  own  child.  Mother,  father,  school- 
master—  these  are  the  educational  trinity,  —  these, 
in  complete  co-operation,  are  the  agents  of  Provi- 
dence to  train  the  child. 

The  schooling  which  the  young  obtain  out  of 
school  is  no  less  essential  than  that  received  on  the 
recitation  benches.  Bodily  exercise  and  deportment ; 
skill  in  work  and  play  ;  walking,  riding,  rowing, 
swimming,  dancing ;  public  amusements,  such  as  the 


TIO  ESSAYS 

theatre,  the  concert,  and  the  museum  afford  ;  famil- 
iarity with  social  usages  ;  conversation  ;  general  read- 
ing; travel,  —  these  are  branches  of  useful  education, 
quite  as  important  as  the  contents  of  text-books. 
Deprived  of  such  schooling  out  of  school,  the  mere 
student  of  books  is  not  prepared  to  enjoy  himself  or 
to  perform  his  duties.  The  teacher  who  disparages 
these  extra  accomplishments  forgets  the  breadth  of 
life.  The  parent  mistakes  the  true  relations  of 
things  when  he  undervalues  the  worth  and  dignity 
of  school-training,  and  subordinates  solid  learning  to 
superficial  accomplishments.  There  should  be  har- 
mony between  what  is  done  outside  and  what  is 
done  inside  the  seminary  walls.  Each  set  of  tasks 
and  recreations  should  have  its  bounds,  so  as  not  to 
trench  pn  another  set. 

Because  its  time  is  limited  and  its  authority  cur- 
tailed by  many  outside  influences,  a  school,  to  be 
efBcient,  must  be  rigorous.  The  teacher  needs  econo- 
mize his  opportunity,  and  use  his  five  or  six  hours  a 
day  with  systematic  efficiency.  He  knows  that  it  is 
not  possible  for  any  one  to  acquire  mental  strength 
or  accuracy,  or  to  secure  thorough  knowledge  of  any 
sort,  without  concentration  and  continuity  of  effort. 
No  matter  how  smart  a  boy  may  be,  he  acquires 
scholarship  only  by  steadfast  devotion  to  study,  from 
day  to  day,  week  to  week,  year  to  year.  No  matter 
how  able  his  parents,  the  heir  does  not  inherit  his 
A  B  C's.  Stuart  Mill  says  truly,  that  "the  children 


UNCLASSIFIED    TRIFLES  III 

of  energetic  parents  frequently  grow  up  unenergetic, 
because  they  lean  on  their  parents  and  the  parents 
are  energetic  for  them."  How  gladly  the  father 
marks  in  his  children  every  indication  that  they  will 
some  time  be  able  to  fight  the  battle  of  life  unaided, 
if  need  be  ;  and  yet  indulgence  often  robs  the  loved 
boy  and  the  idolized  girl  of  the  weapon  that  alone 
makes  success  possible  —  self-reliance.  Relaxation 
is  necessary  ;  but  there  should  be  no  break  in  general 
purpose,  no  cooling  of  interest,  no  dissipation  of 
force.  To  suppose  that  teachers  or  schools  can 
impart  a  good  education  to  a  boy  who  scatters  his 
energy  by  idleness  or  other  vice  is  as  absurd  as  to 
expect  a  plant  to  thrive  that  is  pulled  up  by  the  roots 
every  night,  though  carefully  reset  every  morning. 
The  wisest  conservation  of  force  is  the  conservation 
of  brain  force.  If  the  boy  squanders  himself,  be- 
coming the  slave  of  his  own  feebleness,  no  outside 
strength  can  save  him.  Why  do  we  control  our 
children  at  all  if  it  is  not  to  invest  them  with  self- 
control  ?  The  restraints  of  school  are  like  the  stake 
that  holds  up  a  young  tree  that  it  may  grow  strong 
and  straight. 

I  conceive  of  a  school  in  which  the  motives, 
ambitions,  and  conduct  are  tuned  to  the  same  key 
and  play  together  the  melody  of  reciprocal  service  and 
good  will.  The  teachers  are  exacting,  but  kind  and 
just  ;  the  pupils  docile,  eager,  persistent ;  the  parents 
unremitting  in  their  intellectual  and  moral  support. 
Believing  knowledge  to  be,  as  the  Bible  says,  "  more 


112  ESSAYS 

precious  than  rubies/'  the  learners  will  toil  and  strive 
for  knowledge  ;  will  collect  mental  treasures  and  wish 
to  become  millionnaires  of  thought.  Imbued  with  the 
sincerest  sentiment  of  honor  and  purity,  they  will 
respond  with  quick  enthusiasm  to  every  generous 
and  heroic  idea. 


2.    WOMAN  S    RIGHTS. 

Rights  spring  from  native  powers,  brute  or  human, 

And  vary  as  the  powers  rise  or  fall ; 

The  flying  angels  and  the  worms  that  crawl 
Have  meted  rights.     The  liberties  of  woman, 

Of  man,  of  seraph,  with  their  longings,  grow. 

Our  brain  and  heart  are  torches  to  illumine 

The  path  of  duty  ;  by  their  inner  glow 

We  ken  the  way  we  should  have  right  to  go. 
He  lives  the  best  whose  faculties  are  free 

To  do,  and  think,  and  feel,  as  God  designed, 

Who  made  the  mortal  members  and  the  mind. 
Each  sex  best  knows  its  nature's  mystery. 

Most  feminine  is  she  whose  free-winged  soul 

Feels  no  constraint  except  Divine  control. 

3.    PAST,  PRESENT,    AND    FUTURE. 

One  of  the  sublimest  thoughts  of  Carlyle  is  that 
every  day  is  the  confluence  of  two  eternities,  the 
infinite  past  and  the  infinite  future.  That  man  nar- 
rows the  scope  of  his  existence  who  is  concerned  only 
with  things  local  and  temporary.  The  far  distant 
and  the  long  past  may  be  more  important  to  him 
than  the  present  and  what  he  is  doing  in  it.  How 
the  wind  is  blowing  a  thousand  miles  away  forewarns 


UNCLASSIFIED    TRIFLES  113 

the  sailor  to  cast  anchor  or  to  set  sail.  What  is 
going  on  in  Europe  or  Asia,  in  politics  or  in  society, 
may  affect  my  happiness  to-morrow.  What  went  on 
in  Egypt,  or  India,  or  Palestine  ages  ago,  trans- 
mitted through  the  lives  of  nations  and  of  men,  and 
through  history,  may  control  the  thoughts  and  events 
of  to-day.  The  stream  of  influences  flowing  from 
the  past  indicates  what  the  tendency  of  the  future 
may  be.  Realizing  what  has  been  accomplished 
towards  civilization,  and  by  what  means,  the  indi- 
vidual man  may  order  his  life  according  to  knowledge, 
and  move  forward  with  some  assurance  of  making  a 
real  advance.  He  will  know  that  the  passing  is  the 
fruitage  of  the  past,  and  will  believe  that  he  can 
plant  the  future  now. 

4.    PROGRESS    OF    CIVILIZATION. 

Much  has  been  accomplished  within  the  past  cen- 
tury for  human  amelioration.  The  average  length 
of  man's  life  has  been  increased  by  better  sanitary 
conditions.  The  material  comforts  of  living  have 
multiplied  beyond  conception.  What  ancient  king 
could  command  such  powerful  and  willing  slaves  as 
every  common  citizen  now  calls  to  his  service  — 
steam  and  electricity.  Steam  carries  me  around  the 
world  ;  lightning  lights  my  candle.  But  what  are  the 
triumphs  of  material  discovery  and  invention  com- 
pared with  the  moral  conquests  and  products  of  the 
century  ?  Fetters  have  fallen  from  millions  of  slaves  ; 
the  wheels,  keels,  and  wires  of  commerce  mix  up  the 


1 14  ESSAYS 

interests  of  mankind  and  create  a  cosmopolitan  sen- 
timent of  friendliness ;  the  rights  of  suffrage  have 
been  greatly  extended,  and  the  sovereignty  of  the 
majority  has  been  conceded  without  depriving  mi> 
norities  of  just  representation.  Persecution  in  its 
grosser  forms  has  ceased,  and  religious  toleration, 
like  sunshine,  has  melted  the  frosts  of  bigotry. 

5.    USE    OF    THE    IDEAL. 

When  Thomas  More  wrote  "  Utopia "  his  con- 
temporaries thought  him  a  dreamer.  He  was  not  a 
dreamer,  but  a  seer,  and  the  vision  he  saw  and 
pictured  in  words  succeeding  generations  beheld 
materialized  in  beneficent  institutions.  Like  an 
architect's  drawing,  the  book  furnished  a  working 
plan,  by  which  political  and  social  life  in  England 
built  itself  a  new  house.  If  More  had  not  pro- 
jected his  speculative  system  on  the  imagination  of 
readers,  the  reforms  he  desired  might  not  so  soon 
have  been  realized.  Forever  the  conception  of  a 
better  state  leads  men  to  practical  endeavors  to 
improve  the  existing  condition  of  things.  Said 
Fichte,  "  The  actual  must  be  judged  by  the  ideal." 
Compelled  to  live  among  things  as  they  are,  man 
grows  stronger  and  more  helpful  by  drawing  inspira- 
tion from  things  as  they  ought  to  be.  The  teacher 
who  is  content  with  things  as  they  are,  and  does  not 
see  what  might  be  and  ought  to  be  and  labor  for  it 
always,  is  dead  and  ready  for  burial. 


UNCLASSIFIED    TRIFLES  115 

6.    COMBINATIONS    VS.    INDIVIDUALS. 

The  present  era  of  combinations  does  not  indicate 
the  final  extinction  of  individual  influence;  it  fore- 
casts the  approach  of  a  day  of  universal  concession  to 
the  natural  rights  of  each  and  all.  Individuals  com- 
bine and  organize  class  interests  for  the  remote 
object  of  liberating  the  individual  from  class  oppres- 
sion. When  the  battles  are  won,  the  regiments  will 
disband,  and  the  privates*will  go  each  to  his  legiti- 
mate place.  How  happy  that  condition  of  society  in 
which  every  person  will  count  for  what  he  is  worth, 
and  will  estimate  his  fellows  at  their  full  value ! 
Honor  will  go  to  whom  honor  is  due,  and  blame  will 
fall  upon  the  wrong -doer.  No  man  will  be  mis- 
placed or  without  a  place.  Special  aptitudes  will  be 
stimulated  by  generous  emulation,  and  the  diverse 
energies  of  the  race  will  be  utilized  for  the  common 
good. 

/.    A    COLLECTION    OF    MEN. 

Practical  men  are  aware  that  success  in  life  de- 
pends upon  a  knowledge  of  human  nature.  The 
world  is  not  unlike  a  menagerie,  and  the  man  of  the 
world  makes  it  a  profit  and  a  pleasure  to  see,  not 
only  the  elephant,  but  all  the  living  wonders  on 
exhibition.  Let  us  pass  into  the  big  tent  and  hear 
the  lion  roar,  the  hyena  howl,  the  eagle  scream,  the 
magpie  chatter,  the  donkey  bray,  and  the  fox  bark. 
Having  seen  the  typical  animals,  it  will  not  be  amiss 


Il6  ESSAYS 

to    enter  the    side-shows    and    look  upon   the   mon- 
strosities. 

We  make  but  one  voyage  on  the  Ship  of  Time  — 
why  not  become  acquainted  with  our  fellow-passen- 
gers ?  The  excursion  is  free  —  who  has  more  right 
on  deck  than  yourself  ?  He  lives  most  who  has 
most  to  do  with  mankind.  The  science  of  human 
nature  is  best  learned  by  the  study  of  representative 
men  —  good  and  bad.  There  are  specialists  who 
delight  in  collecting  birds'  eggs,  or  postage  stamps, 
or  buttons.  Mark  Twain  made  a  collection  of  echoes, 
and  he  is  not  the  only  author  who  has  done  that.  A 
collection  of  photographs  is  valuable,  for  it  brings  to 
the  eye  the  image  of  men's  faces  ;  a  library  is  better, 
for  it  gives  portraits  of  men's  minds  ;  but,  best  of  all, 
is  a  collection  of  men  and  women  —  a  choice  assort- 
ment of  fine  specimens  gathered  by  observation,  and 
classified  in  the  glass-case  of  memory,  for  reference 
and  instruction.  Only  in  gathering  such  a  noble 
cabinet,  the  student  of  human  nature  must  not  fail 
to  carry  with  him  what  Goethe  calls  the  Three  Rev- 
erences ;  namely,  reverence  for  that  which  is  below 
us,  for  that  which  is  around  us,  for  that  which  is 
above. 

8.    EDUCATION    OUT    OF    SCHOOL. 

Teachers  are  the  radical  reformers  of  political  and 
social  abuses.  They  are  the  builders  of  permanent 
nations.  But  the  education  of  schools  is  not  the 
only  education  that  life  in  a  democratic  state  affords. 


UNCLASSIFIED    TRIFLES  I  I/ 

The  citizen  of  a  republic  feels  himself  really  a  part 
of  a  majestic  system,  and  is  conscious  that  his  own 
life,  liberty,  and  happiness  are  bound  up  in  the  bun- 
dle of  the  common  destiny.  Hence  he  learns  to 
respect  institutions  more  than  rulers.  He  will  criti- 
cise his  senator,  his  judge,  his  priest;  but  he  believes 
in  law,  justice,  and  religion,  and  will  not  permit  these 
to  be  slighted.  He  fights  for  the  Constitution.  The 
Declaration  of  Independence  is  not  a  " glittering  gen- 
erality "  to  him.  The  school  system,  the  press,  the 
ballot-box  —  these  he  holds  sacred.  Nor  does  the 
existence  of  humbug,  fraud,  and  corruption  prove 
that  sincerity,  honesty,  and  purity  are  slumbering. 
The  prevailing  sentiment  is  right ;  the  general  con- 
science is  true. 

The  free  mingling  of  all  elements,  possible  only 
in  a  democracy,  tends  not  to  level  the  mass  down, 
but  to  level  it  up.  Intelligence,  morality  —  these  are 
qualities  that  benefit  all.  It  is  good  for  the  refined 
gentleman  and  for  the  rude  laborer  that  they  discuss 
together  the  questions  of  the  day.  When  all  classes 
become  acquainted  they  agree  better. 

Just  after  the  last  presidential  election,  before  the 
returns  were  in,  and  while  the  whole  country  was 
waiting  with  anxious  excitement  to  learn  who  would 
be  president,  two  little  boys  were  observed  on  a 
by-street  in  Cincinnati,  talking  together  earnestly. 
One  was  a  colored  lad,  ragged  and  pathetically  small ; 
the  other  a  sturdy  white  urchin,  neatly  dressed,  and 
with  the  air  of  one  born  in  a  stone-front  house.  Said 


Il8  ESSAYS 

the  white  boy  to  the  dark,  "  What  is  the  news  ? " 
"We  sha'n't  know  anything  for  certain,"  was  the 
reply,  "  until  six  o'clock."  —  "  Sha'n't  we  ?  Then, 
Charley,  meet  me  here  at  just  six,  for  I  want  to  know 
all  about  it!"  The  little  "nigger"  promised,  and 
the  two  young  Americans  separated. 

Here  was  an  instance,  sublimely  simple,  of  the 
workings  of  democratic  institutions  ;  of  the  reaction 
of  mind  upon  mind  in  the  beginning  place  of  vote- 
making.  So  long  as  Charley  meets  his  brother  baby 
at  just  six  o'clock  to  inquire  all  about  the  state  of 
politics,  the  republic  will  be  safe.  This  is  popular 
education. 

Q.    THE    OLD-FASHIONED    ELOCUTIONIST. 

The  old-fashioned  elocutionist  culminated  about 
the  time  of  the  civil  war,  and  since  then  he  has 
gradually  lost  public  favor.  The  species  has  declined, 
though  individuals  of  it  are  still  to  be  seen  rocketing 
in  the  oratorial  sky. 

In  a  stray  volume  of  the  Philadelphia  Port  Folio 
for  the  year  1815,  we  read  that  Mr.  Ogilvie  of  South 
Carolina  College  had  recently  established  "  a  new 
branch  of  education,"  which  was  no  other  than  a 
course  on  oratory,  and  that  he  had  "opened  for  him- 
self a  most  splendid  and  useful  career."  The  trus- 
tees of  the  college  testified  over  their  official  signatures 
that  there  were  none  among  Mr.  Ogilvie's  pupils 
"who  could  not  recite  with  justness  and  intelligence; 


UNCLASSIFIED    TRIFLES  I  IQ 

and  some  seemed  to  have  made  considerable  advances 
in  the  higher  walks  of  impassioned  eloquence." 

We  will  not  venture  to  assume  that  Mr.  Ogilvie 
was  the  founder  of  an  actually  "  new  branch  of 
education,"  and  the  father  of  American  elocutionists. 
But  since  he  figured  as  long  ago  as  1815,  we  may 
safely  conclude  that  the  old-fashioned  elocutionists 
have  been  illustrating  the  splendors  of  "  impassioned 
eloquence  "  for  nearly  a  hundred  years  in  this  New 
World. 

"Impassioned  eloquence,"  both  in  writing  and 
speech,  was  the  glory  of  the  period  beginning  with 
the  close  of  the  Second  War  of  Independence.  The 
school  of  "our  eloquent  ancestors"  was  the  political 
press,  the  stump,  and  the  revival  pulpit. 

"  Impassioned  eloquence  "  by  degrees  passed  from 
the  domain  of  serious  persuasion  to  the  stage,  the 
lyceum,  and  the  academy.  It  became  ornamental 
rather  than  useful.  Fourth  of  July  oratory  retained 
a  sort  of  quasi  meaning  for  a  long  time,  and  even 
yet  we  occasionally  see  the  spread  eagle  soar  from 
a  rustic  platform  and  flap  his  broad  wings  in  the  high 
altitude  of  sublime  noise. 

Well  do  we  remember  the  elocutionist  of  our 
school-days  —  his  name  was  legion; —  we  speak  of 
the  species,  not  of  any  particular  specimens.  He 
it  was,  wonderful-voiced,  many-sounding  man,  who 
amazed  our  youthful  ears  by  rending,  not  rendering, 
"  Collins's  Ode  to  the  Passions,"  "  Rienzi's  Address 
to  the  Romans,"  and  "  Catiline's  Defiance."  Me- 


I2O  ESSAYS 

thinks  I  see  him  now  in  the  act  of  clinching  his  fist 
at  the  imaginary  Conscript  Fathers  and  exclaiming, 

"  He  dares  not  touch  a  hair  of  Catiline." 

"Parrhasius"  was  in  his  fierce  repertory,  and 
who  that  once  saw  and  heard  could  ever  forget  the 
unqualified  delight  that  the  lively  artist  took  in 
commanding  his  attendant  to  — 

"Press  down  the  poisoned  links  into  his  flesh, 
And  tear  agape  those  healing  wounds  afresh  !  " 

The  impression  upon  small  boys  was  ineradicable. 
Every  urchin  old  enough  to  articulate  was  saying,  in 
such  sepulchral  tones  as  he  could  simulate,  — 

"  Gods  !  if  I  could  but  paint  a  dying  groan  !  " 

The  recollection  of  one  other  "  piece  "  of  declam- 
atory "  impassioned  eloquence "  comes  back  like 
Banquo's  ghost.  Twas  called  "  The  Seminole's  Defi- 
ance," a  great  favorite  with  the  old-fashioned  elocu- 
tionist, and  with  nervous  boys.  By  the  way,  how 
curious  the  fact  that  it  is  not  the  big,  rough,  savage 
boy  who  affects  the  terrific  style,  but  rather  the  pale 
and  slender  fellow.  The  "Seminole's  Defiance" 
is  ferocious  from  beginning  to  end,  but  the  closing 
verse  was  the  climax  and  the  crucial  test  of  the 
orator's  art.  It  runs  thus  :  — 

"  I  ne'er  will  ask  for  quarter, 
I  ne'er  will  be  your  slave, 
But  I'll  swim  the  sea  of  slaughter 
'Till  I  sink  beneath  its  wave  !  " 


UNCLASSIFIED    TRIFLES  121 

Language  cannot  convey  an  adequate  conception 
of  the  gesticular  strokes  with  which  our  old  teacher 
plunged  into  the  "  sea  of  slaughter,"  as  though  that 
crimson  flood  actually  rolled  before  us  ;  much  less 
can  words  reproduce  the  exaggerated  gurgle  with 
which  he  sank  beneath  the  wave. 

The  old-fashioned  elocutionist  rather  disdained 
humor,  regarding  it  as  frivolous  and  undignified. 
Blood  was  his  chosen  element.  Yet  often  he  resorted 
to  the  other  impassioned  fluid  —  tears.  A  throng 
of  recollections  clamor  to  be  told,  but  we  forbear. 
Suffice  it  to  say  our  old  friend's  pathos  was  more 
harrowing  than  his  tragedy.  There  was  a  sort  of 
grim  pleasure  in  listening  to  his  murders  and  defi- 
ances and  death-rattles,  but  his  tender  speeches 
gave  unmitigated  misery  to  the  audience.  Yet, 
paradoxical  as  it  seems,  the  popular  taste  was  such 
that  we  enjoyed  the  pain. 

Perhaps  the  most  remarkable  quality  of  old-fash- 
ioned "  impassioned  eloquence "  was  its  parlia- 
mentary or  senatorial  element.  The  elocutionist 
considered  it  his  bounden  duty  to  instruct  his  audi- 
ence in  the  principles  and  practice  of  parliamentary 
persuasion.  As  a  rule,  he  preferred  perorations 
rather  than  plain  argument.  Pitt,  Burke,  and  Web- 
ster were  the  models  he  taught  us  to  imitate,  and 
the  elocutionist  gave  brilliant  examples  of  the  style 
of  those  famous  orators.  Sometimes,  also,  he  dis- 
played samples  of  the  art  of  Demosthenes  or  Cicero. 
Randolph,  Calhoun,  and  Clay  often  appeared  before 


122  ESSAYS 

us  in  the  person  of  our  lecturer.  Demosthenes, 
Cicero,  and  Burke  were  represented  as  very  solemn 
and  even  pompous.  Webster  and  Pitt  rolled  their 
R's,  and  emphasized  all  the  big  words,  and  flourished 
their  arms  with  great  energy,  and  so  far  forgot  their 
dignity  in  moments  of  excitement  as  to  beat  their 
bosoms  and  to  storm.  When  it  came  the  turn  of  Ran- 
dolph, or  Clay,  or  Patrick  Henry,  to  take  the  floor, 
"impassioned  eloquence"  found  full  vent.  These 
worthy  statesmen  were  regarded  as  naturally  eloquent ; 
they  were  fiery  and  untamed  ;  they  tore  every  passion 
to  tatters ;  they  ranted  like  mad  men,  and  when, 
exhausted  with  vociferation  and  frantic  exercise, 
Randolph  or  Clay  dropped  into  his  chair,  the  audience 
thundered  round  after  round  of  applause. 

The  recollection  of  these  "  elocutionary  entertain- 
ments "  brings  with  it  a  sense  of  their  irresistible 
absurdity.  What  could  be  more  ludicrous  ?  Imagine 
Burke  in  the  British  parliament,  or  Webster  in  Con- 
gress, looking,  acting,  and  speaking  as  the  old-fash- 
ioned elocutionist  represented  him !  Had  Clay  or 
Calhoun  behaved  on  any  public  occasion  as  the  pro- 
fessional declaimer  used  to  personate  him,  his  friends 
would  have  consigned  him  to  the  nearest  sanitarium. 

In  these  latter  days  elocution  is  more  rational. 
Teachers  of  vocal  culture  are  striving  to  base  their 
art  on  a  natural  foundation.  The  old-fashioned 
elocutionist  can  no  longer  please  an  enlightened 
audience.  Perhaps  the  new-fashioned  professor  of 
oratory  runs  to  another  extreme  of  refined  artificiality, 


UNCLASSIFIED    TRIFLES  123 

and  has  too  much  to  say  about  the  philosophy  of 
expression  and  the  subtilities  of  Delsarte.  As  the 
"  blood-and-thunder  "  novel  of  yore  has  changed  into 
the  introspective  tale  of  Howells  and  James,  so  the 
rant  of  the  stage  and  the  "  spouting  "  of  the  "  school 
exhibition"  are  supplanted  by  realistic  acting  and 
recitations  in  a  quiet  style. 

10.   "  IT'S  BOOKS." 

"It's  books."  Such  was  the  idiom  of  our  dis- 
trict. The  phrase  was  familiar  to  my  ears  in  boy- 
hood. Perhaps  the  expression  has  become  obsolete ; 
maybe  it  was  narrowly  provincial  and  "countryfied." 
I  do  not  know.  But  I  distinctly  recollect  that,  in 
the  quiet  precincts  of  old  Ridgeville  (an  Ohio  village 
fondly  remembered  as  the  scene  of  my  first  school- 
going),  we  used  to  say  "It's  books."  We  meant  by 
the  words  that  the  hours  of  study  and  recitation  had 
begun  ;  that  playtime  was  over ;  that,  to  use  another 
peculiar  form  of  "English  as  she  is  spoke,"  school 
had  "took  up." 

I  recollect  pedagogues  who  used  to  call  in  their 
pupils  by  rapping  sharply  with  a  ferule  on  the 
window-sash,  and  others  who  sent  messengers  to  the 
playgrounds  to  tell  us  that  it  was  books.  The  school- 
master who  first  used  a  hand-bell  to  ring  the  children 
in  from  Riley's  Woods  was  regarded  as  quite  a 
magician  ;  and  we  fancied  that  he  must  be  very  rich 
to  possess  a  bell. 

On  the  morning  of  the  first  opening  of  the  city 


124  ESSAYS 

schools  in  autumn,  the  streets  present  a  lively  and 
suggestive  picture.  The  official  announcement  that 
it  will  be  "  books  "  on  a  stated  Monday  morning  in 
September  produces  a  flutter  of  preparation  among 
the  school-goers,  and  no  little  stir  and  anxiety  among 
the  school-senders.  The  various  employments  of 
vacation  are  cut  short.  The  children's  wardrobes 
are  overhauled,  repaired,  and  replenished.  Tommy's 
out-grown  suit  is  fitted,  perhaps,  to  his  younger 
brother.  Lizzie  is  supplied  with  a  new  dress  ;  and  her 
last  fall's  hat  is  done  over  in  the  style  of  the  coming 
season.  The  family  talk  is  of  teachers,  text-books, 
and  grades.  The  tents  of  rest  are  folded,  and  the 
educational  camp  buzzes  with  the  sound  of  prepara- 
tion for  another  year's  active  campaign.  The  antici- 
pated opening  day  arrives.  Then,  betimes,  the  boys 
and  girls  issue  from  their  places  of  abode  and  flock 
together,  laden  with  baskets,  satchels,  slates,  and 
books.  The  sidewalks  are  musical  with  the  patter 
of  elastic  feet.  In  the  bustle  and  excitement  of  the 
occasion,  most  are  filled  with  hope  and  vivacity. 
Here  and  there  a  reluctant  urchin,  opposed  to  the 
school  system  in  general,  and  perhaps  personally 
prejudiced  against  Miss  Goad,  the  kind  but  firm 
young  lady  who  rules  his  room,  creeps  unwillingly 
"and  with  heavy  looks  "  toward  the  big  brick  edifice 
•which  he  considers  not  the  goal,  but  the  gaol,  of 
his  wishes.  An  excess  of  forward-moving  energy 
propels  the  majority,  causing  the  observer  to  wonder 
at  the  force  stored  in  young  blood.  Almost  every 


UNCLASSIFIED    TRIFLES  12$ 

lad  or  lass  seems  to  belong  to  the  fittest,  having  such 
manifest  power  to  survive.  Yet  the  discriminating 
eye  may  see  in  the  crowd  more  than  one  timid, 
shrinking  child,  to  whom  the  rush  and  flurry  of  the 
noisy  procession  is  like  the  rude  bluster  of  March 
winds  to  the  tender  and  tremulous  violet.  At  the 
home  door  stands  the  mother,  her  heart  following 
with  infinite  solicitude  the  darling  who  this  day  for 
the  first  time  ventures  from  the  all-protecting  en- 
closure of  the  household  walls  to  enter  upon  untried 
scenes.  Full  of  pathos  to  the  parent's  heart  is  this 
first  day  of  school.  The  mother  may  cry  a  little  in 
the  lonely  nursery  when  her  baby  is  out  of  sight. 
Ah,  innocent,  ignorant  child,  rejoicing  in  her  em- 
broidered cloak,  proud  of  her  pictorial  primer,  how 
can  she  anticipate  the  realities  of  the  long  way  that 
lies  before  her !  Perhaps  she  may  discover  an  ap- 
palling difference  between  home  and  school ;  between 
mother,  whose  love-kiss  yet  lingers  on  her  lips,  and 
Miss  Goad,  who  sets  her  to  learn  the  twos  in  the 
multiplication-table.  Even  father,  undemonstrative 
as  he  is,  betrays  some  interest  in  the  children's 
movements  on  opening  day ;  and  he  cannot  help 
drawing  a  long  breath  over  his  high  desk  at  the 
office,  as  he  recalls  to  mind  the  air  of  his  five-year- 
old  namesake,  who,  after  breakfast,  set  off  so  sturdily 
towards  the  hill  of  science,  his  pocket  plethoric  of 
tops  and  strings,  his  jacket  and  pants  buttoned 
together  around  the  waist. 

It  is  not  the  infants  only  that  interest  and  amuse 


126  ESSAYS 

the  observer  on  the  morning  when  school  begins. 
Not  only  Minnie  in  her  A  B  Cs,  but  also 

"  Almira  in  the  upper  class," 

who  studies  chemistry,  music,  and  French,  and  who 
wears  her  hair  in  the  most  outlandish  style  of  the 
extreme  mode ;  not  only  little  Fred,  whose  mind, 
yet  in  the  soft  cartilage  stage,  is  sorely  confused  by 
the  simplest  object  lesson,  but  also  Charles  Edwin, 
with  misty  mustache  on  lip  and  Latin  lexicon  in 
hand,  with  golden  charms  hanging  to  his  watch- 
chain,  and,  as  he  humbly  conceives,  manly  dignity 
stamped  on  his  studious  brow.  Now  roll  the  private 
seminary  omnibuses  along,  bearing  the  lilies  and 
roses  that  toil  not  nor  spin  ;  and  the  roses  and  lilies 
bend  and  nod  with  peculiar  sweetness  as  they  pass 
Charles  Edwin  by,  and  that  linguistic  beau  moves 
gracefully  on,  a  taller  and  happier  man. 

Meanwhile  the  swarms  gather  and  increase  in  the 
vicinity  of  the  schoolhouses.  There  assemble  the 
children  of  the  people  —  the  rich,  the  poor —  Ameri- 
can, German,  Irish  ;  the  robust,  the  feeble,  the  beau- 
tiful, the  deformed,  the  intelligent,  the  stupid,  the 
virtuous,  the  vicious,  the  children  of  the  people. 
They  will  be  men  and  women  —  to-morrow.  They 
have  come  from  the  privacy  of  the  family  to  the 
publicity  of  the  school.  They  have  stepped  into 
the  world.  They  are  weaving  the  individual  threads 
of  life  into  the  tissue  of  society  and  state. 

The   hour  strikes,  the    bells   ring  out  their  sum- 


UNCLASSIFIED    TRIFLES 


mons,  the  multitudes  separate  into  orderly  ranks, 
and  march  to  their  appointed  place.  And  "  it's 
books." 

II.       THE    CULTURED    SNOB. 

Young  Mr.  Acme  Sweetlight,  having  completed 
his  college  course  and  perhaps  European  tour,  has 
returned  home  to  rest  and  recuperate.  Sweet- 
light  is  an  illustrious  example  of  what  education  and 
culture  may  accomplish  for  a  man.  He  manifests 
his  superiority  in  every  way.  His  dress  and  de- 
meanor proclaim  him  finished.  Acme  has  absorbed 
the  learning  of  his  times.  Any  one  may  see  at  a 
glance  that  he  is  saturated  with  information  and 
intellectual  power. 

True,  he  does  not  say  much,  or  read  much,  or  do 
much  in  any  sort,  to  demonstrate  his  ability  ;  but  he 
looks  very  much  indeed,  and  what  he  does  utter  is 
oracular  and  final.  Acme  is  a  contemplator  of  other 
men's  defects,  not  a  producer.  He  sits  in  judgment 
on  the  words  and  works  of  lesser  men.  He  sits 
apart  in  a  region  of  inaccessible  refinement,  surveys, 
condemns,  but  never  creates.  Perpetual  disapproval 
perches  at  the  sensitive  corners  of  Sweetlight's 
mouth.  Censure  and  disparagement  are  written  on 
his  classic  forehead.  Infinite  scorn  of  crudity  and 
vulgarity  lurks  in  the  exquisite  curl  of  his  nose.  He 
takes  it  for  granted  that  anybody  who  tries  to  do 
anything  is,  according  to  the  eternal  fitness  of  things, 
a  special  target  for  his  cynical  arrows. 


128  ESSAYS 

There  is  that  in  Acme  Sweetlight  which  may  be 
likened  to  what  physicists  call  potential  energy  ;  he 
seems  charged  with  some  mighty  force,  which,  how- 
ever, has  not  yet  vented  itself  in  positive  work. 
The  man  is  like  a  bent  bow  or  a  loaded  gun,  or  ever 
so  much  superheated  steam  confined  in  a  strong 
boiler.  The  piston  of  actual  achievement  moves  not, 
though  certain  spirts  of  hissing  criticism  do  escape 
now  and  then  through  the  safety-valve  of  speech. 
He  smiles  disdainfully  at  false  syntax  or  bad  rhetoric, 
though  he  will  not  write  himself.  He  goes  to  the 
lecture  and  pronounces  it  a  failure  ;  and  he  attends 
church  occasionally  in  a  condescending  mood,  but  is 
visibly  bored  by  the  sermon  and  excruciated  by  the 
singing.  Doubtless  this  supreme  being  can  do  all 
things  better  than  anything  has  ever  been  done. 
Conscious  of  latent  ability,  he  cares  not  so  far  to 
identify  himself  with  the  "  rascal  multitude  "  as  even 
to  set  an  example. 

12.       NATURAL    SCIENCE    TEACHING    IN    THE    COMMON 
SCHOOLS. 

Children  should  become  acquainted  with  natural 
objects,  as  parts  of  a  complete  whole,  interesting  and 
important  not  only  in  themselves,  but  also  in  their 
relation  to  other  things.  A  stone-quarry  teaches 
more  than  a  cabinet  of  minerals  ;  a  woodland  walk 
more  than  a  hortus  siccns ;  an  ant-hill  more  than  a 
card  of  beetles  displaying  their  transfixed  bodies 
through  glass.  Collections,  classifications,  specific 


UNCLASSIFIED    TRIFLES  I2Q. 

and  generic  names  are  very  useful  in  their  way ;  but 
nature  and  her  works  are  best  studied,  loved,  and 
appreciated  in  action,  —  in  life,  not  in  death.  Even 
the  inorganic  world  has  its  vital  phenomena,  —  its 
force  in  action. 

Much  better  it  is  for  a  child  to  learn  crystalography 
by  observing  the  manner  in  which  solids  are  born  of 
liquid  solutions,  than  by  looking  at  a  few  labelled 
specimens  in  a  dusty  box.  Plants  and  animals  should 
be  seen,  if  possible,  in  their  native  haunts.  What 
the  beginner  most  needs  is  a  taste  for  nature,  habits 
of  observation,  and  a  method  of  investigation,  —  not 
laws,  conclusions,  scientific  categories  and  results. 
The  summing  up  of  facts  and  final  statement  of 
principles  is  the  work  of  trained  thinkers,  not  of 
unpractised  school-children. 

The  tyro  needs  knowledge  — abundance  of  definite 
knowledge.  The  reason  it  is  so  hard  to  interest  boys 
and  girls  in  scientific  text-books  may  be  seen,  when 
we  recollect  that  these  books  are  mainly  summaries 
and  general  statements,  dependent  upon  a  vast  accu- 
mulation of  facts  and  experiments,  that  the  boys  and 
girls  have  not  witnessed.  On  the  very  first  page  of 
the  book  the  pupil  is  told  that  "  science  is  knowl- 
edge reduced  to  system  ; "  it  is  the  teacher's  duty  to 
draw  the  inference  that,  without  some  knowledge  to 
begin  with,  it  is  absurd  to  suppose  it  possible  to  pos- 
sess any  science  whatever.  Science  is  not  ignorance 
reduced  to  system.  The  pupils  must  be  induced  to 
take  notice  of  what  lies  around  them,  or  else  all  at- 


I3O  ESSAYS 

tempt  to  teach  principles  and  laws  is  hopeless.  They 
must  study  things  and  their  properties,  and  learn  to 
distinguish  what  is  significant  in  nature  from  what 
is  not. 

Country  teachers  have  peculiar  facilities  for  ac- 
quainting themselves  and  their  pupils  with  the  ma- 
terial of  natural  science,  and  they  are  scarcely 
excusable  if  they  neglect  their  opportunity.  Soils, 
stones,  springs,  trees,  moss,  birds,  insects,  snails,  — 
ten  thousand  objects  of  interest  may  be  brought  under 
the  observation  of  the  farmer's  children.  Let  the 
scholars  be  induced  to  study  the  natural  history  of 
their  own  homes.  Put  into  their  hands  such  books 
as  Wood's  "  Selbourne,"  and  "  The  Fairy  Land  of 
Science."  Ask  them  to  write  compositions  about 
familiar  natural  objects.  Take  them  on  excursions. 
Make  them  realize  the  significance  and  worth  of  the 
familiar.  Teach  them  the  use  of  the  eye,  the  micro- 
scope, —  but,  above  all,  the  use  of  their  mind.  Bring 
them  close  down  to  nature  that  they  may  feel  her 
mysterious  life,  and  catch  the  spirit  of  her  opera- 
tions. There  is  a  just  complaint  that  scientific 
teaching  is  apt  to  be  sapless  and  soulless.  It  is  a 
pity  if  instruction  tends  to  narrow  the  pupil's  mind, 
—  to  make  him  underrate  other  knowledge  than 
that  of  bare  facts,  —  and  to  depreciate  other  than 
scientific  culture. 

The  practice  of  amusing  children  with  the  curiosi- 
ties of  natural  history,  chemistry,  etc.,  without  cre- 
ating correct  habits  of  study,  or  any  real  interest  in 


UNCLASSIFIED    TRIFLES  13! 

the  more  substantial  parts  of  the  subject  taught,  is 
an  evil  that  besets  primary  teachers. 

It  is  easy  to  interest  children  in  wonders,  but  minds 
that  are  habitually  aroused  by  novelty  are  almost 
sure  to  lapse  into  hopeless  lethargy  when  the  novelty 
has  lost  its  charm.  Many  have  experienced  how 
hard  it  is  to  make  anything  of  a  class  that  has  had 
the  edge  of  its  appetite  for  study  blunted  by  feeding 
on  scientific  marvels  for  a  few  months.  The  curiosi- 
ties of  botany  and  zoology,  the  brilliant  experiments 
of  chemistry  and  physics,  ought  to  be  distributed 
along  the  whole  course  of  study,  and  be  utilized  as  a 
gentle  and  constant  stimulus.  It  is  as  unwise  to  ex- 
pect to  develop  a  taste  for  scientific  study  by  a  course 
of  highly  seasoned,  marvellous  lectures,  as  to  create 
a  healthy  desire  for  plain  food  by  a  preliminary  diet 
of  spice  and  confectionary. 

Inverting  the  usual  order,  I  give,  as  the  close  of 
this  brief  sermon,  a  pregnant  text  from  the  scripture 
of  J.  J.  Rousseau,  who  says  "  Among  the  many  ad- 
mirable methods  taken  to  abridge  the  study  of  the 
sciences,  we  are  in  great  want  of  one  to  make  us 
learn  them  with  effort." 

13.    HOW    TO    SAY    IT. 

The  use  of  language  is  to  set  the  mind  free  and 
send  it  forth  that  it  may  influence  other  minds.  The 
mind  in  print  flies  around  the  globe.  Words  are 
deeds.  He  who  speaks  well,  or  writes  well,  does 


132  ESSAYS 

service  as  practical  as  the  sowing  of  grain,  the  steer- 
ing of  a  ship,  or  the  curing  of  a  wound. 

Language  is  the  most  potent  instrument  that 
human  power  wields.  The  useful  end  of  intellectual 
education  is  to  learn  to  think,  and  the  value  of 
thought  is  measured  by  its  adequate  expression. 
Therefore  teachers  should  not  undervalue  grammar 
and  rhetoric.  The  art  of  saying,  sums  up  and  tests 
all  mental  acquisitions.  "  I  know  it  but  can't  tell 
it  "  is  the  same  as  "  I  possess  but  cannot  use."  But 
the  use  of  knowledge  is  to  use. 

Pupils  must  be  trained  to  put  their  intelligence 
into  the  breath  of  life  which  awakens  the  vocal 
chords,  and  into  the  ink  which  talks  from  the.  written 
page.  Young  folks  are  apt  to  assume  that  they  can- 
not make  composition.  It  is  easy  to  prove  to  the 
dullest  child  that  he  possesses  power  to  speak  and 
write.  Take  down  in  shorthand  the  answers  he 
gives  to  your  familiar  questions,  and  you  have  a  lit- 
erary composition.  Let  the  boys  and  girls  translate 
tongue  into  pen  ;  let  them  put  down  from  their 
fingers  what  just  now  fell  from  their  lips.  How 
teach  a  child  to  write  sensibly  and  simply  ?  You  had 
better  study  how  to  prevent  him  from  losing  the  tact 
which  comes  to  him  naturally.  Babies  of  five  are 
often  more  expert  at  telling  their  meanings  and  feel- 
ings than  are  the  students  in  the  rhetoric  class. 
Wonderfully  fresh,  idiomatic,  and  succinct  is  the  ora- 
tory of  the  nursery.  How  beautiful,  direct,  and 
graphic  the  first  letters  written  by  boys  and  girls 


UNCLASSIFIED    TRIFLES  133 

who  have  never  been  at  school !  Children  love  to 
communicate  themselves.  They  are  voluble  and 
eloquent. 

The  class  in  composition  should  be  the  most  inter- 
esting class  in  school,  because  it  should  bring  into 
use  all  the  pupils'  knowledge,  thought,  feeling,  and 
personality.  But  the  fact  is,  the  composition  class,  in 
the  generality  of  schools,  is  abhorred  by  both  teacher 
and  pupils. 

We  begin  wrong,  and  then  go  on  from  bad  to  worse 
until  we  have  quite  spoiled  the  natural  faculty  of 
language.  We  ought  not  to  expect  a  pupil's  school 
composition  to  be  more  correct  or  original  than 
his  average  talk.  When  he  can  tell  a  story  grace- 
fully, then  he  may  write  it.  Teach  composition  in 
every  recitation.  Awkward  words  and  half-formed 
thoughts  require  correction  in  the  geography  class  as 
much  as  in  the  grammar  class.  But  criticism  is  not 
what  is  wanted  so  much  as  encouragement.  Above 
all,  do  not  expect  learners  to  impart  what  they  have 
not  received.  The  substance  of  the  composition  is 
the  main  thing,  the  form  is  secondary.  Perfection 
of  form,  elegant  phraseology,  bookish  style,  are 
never  to  be  encouraged.  The  smooth,  elegant,  con- 
ventional essay,  abounding  in  Latin  derivatives,  be- 
tokens feebleness  and  not  power.  Such  finished 
productions  are  too  often  praised  by  teachers  on  Fri- 
day afternoon.  No  sham  more  pitiable  than  the 
ordinary  school  composition  unless  it  be  the  ordinary 
graduating  address,  which  is,  indeed,  the  school 
composition  gone  to  seed. 


134  ESSAYS 

The  written  words  of  girls  and  boys  should  truly 
represent  the  habitual,  intellectual,  and  moral  status 
of  the  writer.  First  compositions  should  be  like 
sketches  from  nature.  They  may  be  sketches  from 
nature.  Instead  of  requiring  your  pupils  to  write 
the  description  of  a  landscape,  instruct  them  to  go  to 
a  certain  point  and  look  out  upon  the  scene,  taking 
notes  of  what  they  see,  to  use  in  a  genuine  composi- 
tion that  shall  actually  portray  a  landscape. 

Remember  the  blunt  old  maxim:  "Have  some- 
thing to  say, — then  say  it."  And  the  way  to  say  it 
will  be  found  only  by  practice,  practice,  practice. 
Write,  write,  write.  Art  is  long.  One  cannot  learn 
to  play  the  fiddle  without  years  of  practice,  nor  to 
play  the  harp  of  language. 

Let  us  hang  around  the  neck  of  this  discourse  a 
jewel  from  Macaulay.  The  jewel  at  least  is  worth 
your  attention.  Macaulay  says,  "The  first  rule  of 
all  writing — that  rule  to  which  every  other  is  subor- 
dinate—  is  that  the  words  used  by  the  writer  shall 
be  such  as  most  fully  and  precisely  convey  his  mean- 
ing to  the  great  body  of  his  readers.  All  considera- 
tions about  the  purity  and  dignity  of  style  ought  to 
bend  to  this  consideration." 


STUDIES    IN    THE    HISTORY    OF    EDUCATION        135 


IX 

STUDIES    IN  THE   HISTORY  OF 
EDUCATION 

I.     CONFUCIUS 

"  Superior  and  alone,  Confucius  stood, 
Who  taught  that  useful  science,  to  be  good." 

Pope's  Temple  of  Fame. 

EVERY  process  of  teaching  is  suggested  by  some 
theory  of  human  nature,  consciously  or  unconsciously 
held  by  the  teacher.  Every  system  of  education  is 
an  exponent  of  its  author's  philosophy.  He  who 
holds  that  the  human  faculties  are  essentially  noble 
and  capable  of  infinite  improvement,  will  conceive 
profound  and  liberal  schemes  of  culture;  but  he 
whose  estimate  of  man's  worth  and  destiny  is  mean 
will  devise  correspondingly  mean  plans  of  training, 
from  which  he  will  neither  obtain  nor  expect  great 
results. 

There  is  no  such  thing  as  an  uneducated  people. 
The  most  primitive  varieties  of  the  human  species 
have  their  notions  of  nature  and  existence,  and  make 
some  effort  to  conform  their  lives  to  an  ideal  standard. 
The  effort — even  the  desire — to  become  something 
that  they  think  superior  to  what  they  are,  is  a  step 
in  education.  Every  influence  exerted  upon  a  per- 


136  ESSAYS 

son,  from  within  or  without,  to  cause  him  to  act  with 
the  definite  purpose  of  increasing  his  powers,  is  edu- 
cational. The  Indians  have  in  mind  a  vivid  picture 
of  the  true  brave,  and  their  young  men  are  drilled  to 
meet  the  severe  exactions  of  the  conception. 

If  we  could  range  in  a  line  of  historic  vision,  run- 
ning from  the  far  past  to  the  near  present,  the  educa- 
tional theories  of  representative  men  in  various 
nations,  many  vain  speculations  would  be  abandoned 
and  much  wrong  practice  might  be  rectified.  These 
theories,  set  forth  in  their  relations  to  one  another, 
would  constitute  the  most  valuable  part  of  educa- 
tional history,  by  showing  what  has  been  thought, 
and  indicating  what  has  been  tried,  and  with  what 
results,  in  the  direction  of  culture  and  development. 
The  views  of  the  ancients  on  the  educability  of  man 
are  very  instructive.  What  was  helps  to  explain 
what  is.  The  "roots  of  the  present  lie  buried  deep  in 
the  past.  No  person  is  more  likely  to  be  "  behind  the 
times  "  than  he  who  is  ignorant  of  the  great  ideas 
and  achievements  of  antiquity. 

The  industry  of  numerous  investigators  is  gather- 
ing material  upon  which  to  base  sound  conclusions 
respecting  the  primitive  condition  of  man  and  the 
beginnings  of  civilization.  Bold  hypotheses  on  the 
origin  of  species  have  pushed  tJiat  question  as  far 
back  as  inquiry  can  go.  How  and  when  man  origi- 
nated science  has  not  determined  ;  but  there  is  a 
general  agreement  among  learned  men  that  the  place 
of  man's  origin  is  Asia,  as  Moses  declared  it  to  be. 


STUDIES    IN    THE    HISTORY    OF    EDUCATION       137 

The  Orient  is  the  stage  upon  which  the  childhood  of 
humanity  exhibited  its  first  demonstrations  of  power 
and  purpose,  —  or  shall  we  say,  of  weakness  and 
wavering  ? 

We  do  not  know  in  what  precise  locality  human 
society  first  existed,  or  what  was  the  first  nation  that 
played  its  part  in  the  world's  history.  Hundreds  and 
thousands  of  races  and  tribes  may  have  made  their 
entrance  and  exit  prior  to  the  time  of  those  faintly 
revealed  to  us  in  the  glimmering  light  of  tradition. 
There  is  no  doubt,  however,  as  to  which  is  the  most 
ancient  of  existing  nations.  China  is  by  far  the 
oldest.  Authentic  records  testify  the  existence  of 
Chinese  civilization  nearly  three  thousand  years  ago. 
We  have  no  reliable  account  of  the  beginnings  of  this 
nation.  Far  as  her  annals  recede,  — 

"In  the  dark  backward  and  abysm  of  time,"  — 

China  first  comes  into  the  range  of  study,  a  somewhat 
enlightened  country.  The  condition  in  which  we  find 
her,  when  she  first  appears  in  history,  justifies  the 
presumption  that  she  had  been  growing  for  centuries 
before.  She  possessed  social  and  political  institu- 
tions, science,  art,  .and  literature,  long  ere  Europe 
emerged  from  barbarism. 

The  word  isolating,  which  philologists  use  to  de- 
scribe languages  like  the  Chinese,  may  be  aptly  used 
also  to  describe  the  Chinese  character.  Until  re- 
cently, it  has  been  the  policy  of  the  Chinese  to  keep 
aloof  from  the  rest  of  mankind.  The  great  wall  is 


138  ESSAYS 

typical  of  this  isolating  tendency,  and  of  Chinese 
stability.  The  Chinese  are  the  most  industrious  of 
people,  and  yet  the  nation  has  made  but  little  progress 
for  thousands  of  years.  What  Taine  says  of  the  schol- 
ars of  the  fourteenth  century  may  be  applied  to  the 
Chinese  :  "  They  seem  to  be  marching,  but  are  merely 
marking  time."  They  do  not  get  on,  yet  their 
energy  is  not  lost.  It  is  expended  in  turning  the 
endless  chain  of  a  gigantic  tread-mill.  There  are 
five  hundred  millions  of  them,  and  each  keeps  his 
place,  and  does  his  prescribed  duty.  Government, 
institutions,  families,  individuals,  are  fitted  like  watch- 
work  into  the  respective  places  appropriated  to  them 
by  inexorable  law  and  usage.  The  myth  that  the 
world  was  cut  and  fashioned  by  Pwanka,  the  first 
man,  with  a  chisel  and  mallet,  symbolizes  Chinese 
philosophy  and  enterprise.1 

Five  classes  of  duties  are  recognized  by  the  Chinese 
as  of  universal  obligation, —  those  between  sovereign 
and  minister,  between  father  and  son,  between  hus- 
band and  wife,  between  elder  brother  and  younger, 
and  between  one  friend  and  another.  There  are, 
also,  three  virtues  considered  binding  upon  all :  knowl- 
edge, magnanimity,  and  energy,  or,  "  conscience, 
humanity,  and  moral  courage,  "  as  translated  by  Maur- 
ice from  the  French  of  M.  Pauthier.  To  define  and 
enforce  these  duties  and  virtues  is  the  object  of  a  great 
part  of,  Chinese  literature,  especially  of  the  so-called 

1  Confucius  and  the  Chinese  Classics,  by  Rev.  A.  W.  Loomis,  San  Francisco, 
1867,  p.  17. 


STUDIES    IN    THE    HISTORY    OF    EDUCATION       139 

sacred  Five  Classics  and  Four  Books.  Chinese  real 
life  exhibits  the  approximate  maintenance  of  these 
.  relations,  as  explained  by  the  scholars  and  enforced 
by  the  emperor.  The  duties  and  virtues  enjoined  are 
acquired  by  imitation,  and  practised  in  a  manner 
rather  perfunctory  than  conscientious.  As  a  neces- 
sary result  of  this  system  of  external  restraints  and 
mechanical  habits,  the  Chinese  remain  as  they  have 
been  for  ages.  Tylor,  in  his  "  Primitive  Culture,"  l 
asserts  as  a  general  fact  that  inferior  grades  of  civ- 
ilization are  marked  by  strong  conservatism  He 
says,  — 

"  The  savage  is  firmly,  obstinately  conservative.  No  man  appeals 
with  more  unhesitating  confidence  to  the  great  precedent-makers  of 
the  past ;  the  wisdom  of  his  ancestors  can  control  against  the  most 
obvious  evidence  of  his  own  opinions  and  actions.  We  listen  with 
pity  to  the  rude  Indian  as  he  maintains  against  civilized  science  and 
experience  the  authority  of  his  rude  forefathers.  We  smile  at  the 
Chinese  appealing  against  modern  innovation  to  the  golden  precepts 
of  Confucius,  who,  in  his  time,  looked  back  with  the  same  prostrate 
reverence  to  sages  still  more  ancient,  counselling  his  disciples  to  fol- 
low the  seasons  of  Hia,  to  ride  in  the  carriage  of  Yin,  to  wear  the 
ceremonial  cap  of  Chow." 

This  quotation  introduces  the  name,  and  indicates 
something  of  the  character,  of  the  best  exponent  of 
Chinese  culture  —  Confucius.  No  countryman  of 
his  —  Mencius  possibly  excepted  —  has  ever  grown 
to  the  intellectual  and  moral  stature  of  this  man. 
The  world  acknowledges  him  as  undoubtedly  great ; 
the  Chinese  regard  him  as  greatest.  Tsez  Kung,  one 
of  his  prominent  followers,  declares  that  the  talents 

1  Tylor,   Primitive  Culture,  Am.  Ed.,  vol.  i,  p.  156. 


I4O  ESSAYS 

and  virtues  of  other  men  are  hillocks  and  mounds 
which  may  be  stepped  over,  but  that  Confucius  "  is 
the  sun  or  moon  -which  it  is  impossible  to  step 
over/'1  The  celebrated  Mencius  says,  "  What  I 
wish  to  do  is  to  learn  to  be  like  Confucius."  And 
further,  "  Since  there  were  living  men,  until  now, 
there  never  was  another  Confucius."  The  very  word 
Confucius,  Latinized  from  the  syllables  Kung-fu-tze, 
signifies  Kung  the  Master  or  Perfect  Sage.  This 
title  is  conferred  by  imperial  authority. 

Confucius  was  born  in  the  year  551  B.C.  The  Gre- 
cian philosopher  Pythagoras  was  then  about  thirty 
years  old,  and  the  Persian  general,  Cyrus  the  Great, 
had*  just  begun  his  career  of  glory.  The  sage  was 
descended  from  illustrious  ancestors.  His  father 
died  when  Confucius  was  but  three  years  old,  leaving 
his  son  no  patrimony  except  a  precocious  intellect 
and  a  studious  disposition.  A  good  mother  conducted 
the  child's  education  with  care.  At  the  early  age  of 
nineteen  Confucius  married.  At  twenty  he  was 
appointed  "  Keeper  of  the  Stores  of  Grain,"  and  at 
twenty-one,  "  Inspector  of  Pastures  and  Flocks,"  in 
his  native  place.  At  twenty-two  he  began  to  tea%h, 
receiving  pupils  at  his  own  house.  Shortly  after  this 
his  mother  died.  He  conducted  her  obsequies  with 
great  splendor,  thus  reviving  an  old  custom,  and,  in 
further  imitation  of  the  ancients,  he  shut  himself 
up  and  devoted  three  years  to  mourning  and  ethical 

1  This  and  other  following  quotations  are  taken  from  Dr.  Legge's  translation  of  the 
Chinese  classics. 


STUDIES    IN    THE    HISTORY    OF    EDUCATION       14! 

studies.  Filial  duty  thus  discharged,  he  resumed 
teaching ;  studied  music  under  a  renowned  master ; 
and  began  to  travel  about  the  empire,  examining  into 
the  condition  of  the  people,  and  visiting  the  courts 
of  princes.  He  felt  it  to  be  his  mission  to  instruct 
and  elevate  his  generation.  We  are  told  that  there 
were  four  things  which  the  master  taught  —  "  let- 
ters,  ethics,  devotion  of  soul,  and  truthfulness/'  He 
poured  out  the  cup  of  knowledge  to  all  who  were 
willing  to  receive,  —  kings  or  common  subjects.  The 
Master  said,  "  From  the  man  bringing  his  bundle  of 
dried  flesh  for  my  teaching,  upward,  I  have  never 
refused  instruction  to  any  one."  His  fame  and  name 
spread.  His  disciples  multiplied.  Honor  and  office 
called  him  from  his  wanderings  home  to  his  native 
state,  the  kingdom  of  Loo.  He  was  made  succes- 
sively magistrate,  assistant  superintendent  of  works, 
and  minister  of  crime.  He  effected  many  reforms, 
and  acquired  vast  influence.  But  the  austerity  of 
his  principles  proving  too  severe  for  the  king,  the 
Master  finally  lost  power,  and,  at  the  age  of  fifty-six, 
sadly  took  his  departure  from  a  court  at  which  he 
could  be  no  longer  useful.  He  resumed  his  journey- 
ings,  and  continued  for  thirteen  years  the  old  work 
of  preceptorial  instruction.  Poverty  and  neglect  fol- 
lowed him.  Once  he  narrowly  escaped  assassination. 
Often  he  suffered  for  want  of  food.  At  last,  in  his 
old  age,  he  returned  once  more  to  Loo,  and  spent  the 
few  remaining  years  of  his  life  quietly  and  happily, 
editing  the  sacred  books.  He  died  at  the  age  of 
seventv-three. 


142  ESSAYS 

In  the  Confucian  Analects  we  find  the  following 
curious  record  of  the  moral  progress  of  the  sage :  — 

"  The  Master  said,  At  fifteen,  I  had  my  mind  bent  on  learning. 
At  thirty,  I  stood  firm.  At  forty,  I  had  no  doubts.  At  fifty,  I 
knew  the  decrees  of  Heaven.  At  sixty,  my  ear  was  an  obedient 
organ  for  the  reception  of  truth.  At  seventy,  I  could  follow  what 
my  heart  desired  without  transgressing  what  was  right." 

With  a  Carlyle-inspired  reverence  for  heroes,  we 
approach  this  wise  man  of  the  East,  to  pay  him  such 
homage  as  his  greatness  can  command.  We  survey 
him,  and  find  him,  indeed,  colossal  for  his  age  and 
nation.  He  is  extraordinary  —  but,  after  all,  only 
an  extraordinary  Chinese.  He  did  not  grow  freely 
to  the  form  and  dimensions  of  absolute  human  great- 
ness. Like  Pwanka's  world,  he  bears  marks  of  the 
mallet  and  chisel.  He  was  born  into  an  artificial 
world  of  inexorable  requisitions  and  restraints.  He 
was  trained  from  infancy  in  accordance  with  tradi- 
tional usage.  The  circumstance  that  his  social  rank 
was  high  subjected  him  the  more  entirely  to  the 
exactions  of  conventional  life.  His  native  capacity 
was  remarkable,  —  he  had  cosmopolitan  sympathies  ; 
he  might  have  developed  an  original  character  even 
in  spite  of  hereditary  tendencies,  but  circumstances 
were  always  against  it.  He  could  only  become  a 
full-blown  and  superior  specimen  of  what  Chinese 
culture  is  able  to  produce  from  the  most  promis- 
ing bud.  He  is  the  consummate  flower  of  Chinese 
civilization. 

Confucius  accepted  the  theory  of  government  and 


STUDIES    IN    THE    HISTORY    OF    EDUCATION       143 

society  that  he  found  riveted  in  the  history  and  habit 
of  his  nation.  "  There  is  government,"  he  says, 
"  when  the  prince  is  prince,  and  the  minister  is 
minister ;  when  the  father  is  father,  and  the  son  is 
son."  Believing  that  the  relation  of  inferiors  to 
superiors  should  be  that  of  the  grass  to  the  wind, 
he  submitted  to  the  powers  that  be.  Professing 
himself  only  a  lover  of  learning  and  a  transmitter 
of  the  wisdom  of  the  ancients,  he  claimed  no  origi- 
nality for  himself.  No  one,  he  thought,  could  fall 
into  error  who  followed  the  example  of  the  early 
kings.  As  by  the  use  of  the  compass  perfect  circles 
may  be  made,  so  by  the  imitation  of  the  ancient 
sages  may  men  be  made  perfect.  "  If  some  years 
were  added  to  my  life,"  said  the  master,  "  I  would 
give  fifty  to  the  study  of  the  Yih,  and  then  I  might 
come  to  be  without  great  faults."  He  endeavored 
to  walk  in  the  path  of  the  sage,  which  "  embraces 
the  three  hundred  rules  of  ceremony  and  the  three 
thousand  rules  of  demeanor."  By  these  rules  is  to 
be  understood,  not  a  mere  code  of  etiquette,  but  an 
elaborate  system  of  conduct  defining  the  highest 
duties  of  life,  civil,  social,  and  moral.  Etiquette 
received  an  ample  share  of  attention.  Confucius 
observed  the  directions  of  the  manners-book  with 
scrupulous  exactness.  His  behavior  was  exceed- 
ingly circumspect.  He  would  not  eat  his  mince- 
meat unless  it  were  properly  cut,  nor  sit  upon  his 
mat  unless  it  were  straight.  He  practised  attitudes 
and  gestures  suitable  to  each  several  occasion  of  life, 


144  ESSAYS 

and  required  his  nightgown  to  be  half  as  long  again 
as  his  body.  A  genius,  naturally  independent  and 
vigorous,  thus  tethered,  reminds  us  of  Gulliver 
bound  by  the  Lilliputians. 

In  the  struggle  to  evolve,  to  rise  to  a  better  life, 
Confucius  broke  many  of  his  bonds.  The  conscious- 
ness of  his  mission  gave  him  strength.  His  itinerant 
life  tended  to  disinthrall  him.  With  profound  love 
for  humanity,  he  united  a  keen  consciousness  that 
the  world  is  not  as  good  as  it  might  be.  He  acknowl- 
edges his  own  defects  with  humility,  and  laments  the 
degeneracy  of  others  in  language  that  recalls  the 
scriptural  complaint,  "  There  is  none  good,  no,  not 
one."  Yet,  fully  believing  that  good  men  have  lived, 
and  that  depraved  human  nature  is  capable  of  self- 
rectification,  he  taught  and  admonished  not  with- 
out faith  in  the  efficacy  of  his  labor.  His  system  is 
essentially  moral. 

There  are  things  in  Confucius  that  make  one  think 
of  Plato,  as,  for  instance,  his  devotion  to  hard  study, 
his  eagerness  to  discover  truth,  his  exaltation  of 
sincerity,  his  delight  in  music,  and  his  scorn  of 
mercenary  gain.  But  he  has  none  of  Plato's  poetic 
faculty.  Like  Socrates,  he  was  a  great  talker,  and 
derived  illustrations  from  the  commonest  objects. 
His  disappointment  at  not  being  able  to  bring  men 
to  accept  his  doctrines  reminds  us  of  the  despondent 
moods  of  Socrates.  "What  do  you  mean,"  asked 
one  of  his  favorite  disciples,  "  by  saying  that  no  one 
knows  you?"  The  Master  replied,  "I  do  not  mur- 


STUDIES    IN    THE    HISTORY    OF    EDUCATION  145 

mur  against  Heaven.  I  do  not  grumble  against  men. 
My  studies  lie  low,  and  my  penetration  rises  high. 
But  there  is  Heaven  that  knows  me."  Such  is  the 
refuge  of  all  great  reformers,  of  whom  men  say  they 
were  born  before  their  time.  Every  earnest  soul  of 
vast  purpose  sooner  or  later  enters  into  the  gloom 
of  its  own  peculiar  Gethsemane. 

While  in  some  instances  Confucius  distinctly  rec- 
ognized a  supreme  power,  it  cannot  be  said  that  it 
was  his  habit  to  appeal  to  Heaven,  or  that  the  notion 
of  a  future  life  had  any  strong  influence  over  his 
actions.  "To  give  one's  self  earnestly  to  the  duties 
due  to  men,  and  while  respecting  spiritual  beings  to 
keep  aloof  from  them,  may  be  considered  wisdom." 
This  is  Confucian  religion.  It  is  eminently  practi- 
cal, if  not  very  spiritual.  It  recognizes  man  as  the 
great  object  of  man's  love  and  service.  All  men  are 
accounted  brethren,  and  owe  one  another  the  natural 
debt  of  benevolence.  The  sage  more  than  once 
repeats  the  injunction,  "  Do  not  to  others  as  you 
would  not  wish  done  to  yourself." 

It  is  natural  to  suppose  that  Confucius,  holding 
such  views  as  he  did  of  human  nature,  should  regard 
education  as  an  important  means  of  bettering  the 
world.  This  he  did.  Following  the  ancients,  he 
taught  that  knowledge  is  conversion  from  evil  to 
good  —  that  knowledge  is  the  pathway  to  both  wis- 
dom and  virtue.  According  to  a  vigorous  modern 
writer,1  the  religious  idea  is  but  one  factor  in  the  sal- 

1  Dr.  I.  M.  Wise:  The  Martyrdom  of  Jesus. 


146  ESSAYS 

vation  of  the  world,  and  science  or  culture  is  the 
other.  Many  have  relied  wholly  on  the  first,  con- 
temning the  other  ;  but  Confucius  may  be  said  to 
have  regarded  knowledge  as  man's  chief  concern, 
even  to  the  exclusion  of  a  higher  spiritual  motive. 
He  would  redeem  mankind  by  instructing  them  in 
secular  knowledge.  Education,  in  his  creed,  is  a 
means  quite  adequate  to  produce  a  perfect  man. 
"It  is  not  easy,"  he  says,  "to  find  a  man  who  has 
learned  for  three  years,  without  coming  to  be  good." 
Again,  "  The  superior  man,  while  there  is  anything 
he  has  not  studied,  or  while,  in  what  he  has  studied, 
there  is  anything  he  cannot  understand,  will  not 
intermit  his  labor."  "  Learn  as  if  you  could  not 
reach  your  object,  and  were  always  fearing,  also,  lest 
you  should  lose  it."  "  If  a  man  keeps  cherishing  his 
old  knowledge,  so  as  to  be  constantly  acquiring  new, 
he  may  be  a  teacher  of  others."  He  puts  more 
stress  on  obtaining  knowledge,  on  storing  memory, 
than  on  reflection.  "  I  have  been  the  whole  day 
without  eating,  and  the  whole  night  without  sleep- 
ing ; —  occupied  with  thinking.  It  was  of  no  use. 
The  better  plan  is  to  learn."  Yet,  in  another  place, 
he  says  wisely,  "  Learning  without  thought  is  labor 
lost;  thought  without  learning  is  perilous." 

Confucius  would  not  confine  the  benefits  of  educa- 
tion to  a  favored  few.  The  doctrine  of  universal 
brotherhood  implied  the  duty  of  universal  instruc- 
tion. We  are  told  that,  "  when  the  master  went  to 
Wei,  Yen  Yew  acted  as  the  driver  of  his  carriage. 


STUDIES    IN    THE    HISTORY    OF    EDUCATION  147 

The  Master  observed,  '  How  numerous  are  the  peo- 
ple ! '  Yew  said,  '  Since  they  are  thus  numerous, 
what  more  shall  be  done  for  them  ? '  —  'Enrich  them,' 
was  the  reply.  '  And  when  they  have  been  enriched 
what  more  shall  be  done  ?  *  The  master  said,  'Teach 
them/"  He  recognized  in  education  an  equalizing 
power.  "There,  being  instruction,  there  will  be  no 
distinction  of  classes."  This  proposition  is  to  be 
taken  with  the  mental  reservation  demanded  in  the 
modern  use  of  its  equivalent ;  for  Confucius  ad- 
mitted a  natural  difference  of  capacity,  and,  indeed, 
classified  mankind .  into  higher  and  lower  ranks, 
according  to  their  quickness  or  slowness  in  learning. 
The  lowest  class,  he  says,  are  they  who  are  dull  and 
stupid  and  unwilling  to  learn. 

It  is  a  striking  evidence  of  the  sagacity  of  the 
sage,  that  he  discerned  the  importance  of  mental 
prowess  as  a  condition  of  military  success.  "  To  lead 
an  uninstructed  people  to  war,"  he  declares,  "is  to 
throw  them  away ; "  but  that  if  they  be  competently 
taught  for  seven  years,  they  may  be  safely  employed 
as  soldiers. 

We  cannot  resist  the  temptation  to  gather  here  a 
few  more  of  the  precepts  of  China's  greatest  philos- 
opher. To  us  they  seem  suggestive,  and  of  wide 
application  ;  nor  has  modern  culture  grown  entirely 
beyond  the  need  of  the  truths  they  embody.  The 
extracts  are  from  the  Analects  :  the  headings  are 
ours. 


148  ESSAYS 

Learning  like  Building  a  Mound. 

"  The  prosecution  of  learning  may  be  compared  to 
what  may  happen  in  raising  a  mound.  If  they  want 
but  one  basket  of  earth  to  complete  the  work,  and  I 
stop,  the  stopping  is  my  own  work.  It  may  be  com- 
pared to  throwing  down  the  earth  on  the  level 
ground.  Though  but  one  basketful  is  thrown  at  a 
time,  the  advancing  with  it  is  my  own  going  for- 
ward." 

What  is  Knowledge  ? 

"  Shall  I  teach  you  what  knowledge  is  ?  When  you 
know  a  thing  to  hold  that  you  know  it  ;  and  when 
you  do  not  know  a  thing,  to  allow  that  you  do  not 
know  it  —  this  is  knowledge." 

False  Pride. 

"  A  scholar  whose  mind  is  set  on  truth,  and  who  is 
ashamed  of  bad  clothes  and  bad  food,  is  not  fit  to  be 
discoursed  with." 

Whom  to  teach.- 

"The  Master  said,  'I  do  not  open  up  the  truth  to 
one  who  is  not  eager  to  get  knowledge,  nor  help 
out  any  one  who  is  not  anxious  to  explain  himself. 
When  I  have  presented  one  corner  of  a  subject  to 
any  one,  and  he  cannot  from  it  learn  the  other  three, 
I  do  not  repeat  my  lesson.' ' 


STUDIES    IN    THE    HISTORY    OF    EDUCATION  149 

Teaching  adapted  to  the   Taught. 
"  The  Master  said,   'To  those  whose   talents  are 
above  mediocrity,  the  highest  subjects  may  be  an- 
nounced.    To  those  whose  talents  are    below  medi- 
ocrity, the  highest  subjects  may  not  be  announced.' ' 

How  Confucius  taiight. 

"The  Master,  by  orderly  method,  skilfully  leads 
men  on.  He  enlarged  my  mind  with  learning,  and 
taught  me  the  rudiments  of  propriety." 

Experience  confers  Authority. 

"  Fan  Che  requested  to  be  taught  husbandry. 
The  Master  said,  '  I  am  not  so  good  for  that  as 
an  old  husbandman.'  He  requested  also  to  be 
taught  gardening,  and  was  answered,  '  I  am  not  so 
good  for  that  as  an  old  gardener.'  ' 

Qualities  of  the  Scholar. 

"  The  scholar  may  not  be  without  breadth  of  mind 
and  vigorous  endurance.  His  burden  is  heavy  and 
his  course  is  long." 

Gravity  and  Instruction. 

"  If  the  scholar  be  not  grave,  he  will  not  call  forth 
any  veneration,  and  his  learning  will  not  be  solid." 

Application. 

"  The  Master  said,  '  Is  it  not  pleasant  to  learn 
with  a  constant  perseverance  and  application  ? ' ' 


I5O  ESSAYS 

Duties  of  Yozith. 

"The  Master  said,  '  A  youth,  when  at  home,  should 
be  filial,  and  abroad,  respectful  to  his  elders.  He 
should  be  earnest  and  truthful.  He  should  overflow 
in  love  to  all,  and  cultivate  the  friendship  of  the  good. 
When  he  has  time  and  opportunity  after  the  perform- 
ance of  these  things,  he  should  employ  them  in  polite 
studies.'  " 

The  Scholar's  Rest. 

"  Let  relaxation  and  enjoyment  be  found  in  the 
polite  arts." 

Blade,  Flower,  and  Fruit. 

"  There  are  cases  in  which  the  blade  springs,  but 
the  plant  does  not  go  on  to  the  flower.  There  are 
cases  where  it  flowers,  but  no  fruit  is  subsequently 
produced." 

Failure  from  Within. 

"  When  the  archer  misses  the  centre  of  the  target, 
he  turns  round  and  seeks  for  the  cause  of  his  failure 
in  himself." 

Virtue. 

"  If  the  will  be  set  on  virtue,  there  will  be  no  prac- 
tice of  wickedness." 

Law  and  Punishment. 

i.  "The  Master  said,  'If  the  people  be  led  by 
laws,  and  uniformity  be  sought  to  be  given  them  by 


STUDIES    IN    THE    HISTORY    OF    EDUCATION  151 

punishment sy  they  will  try  to  avoid  the  punishment, 
but  have  no  sense  of  shame 

2.  "  '  If  they  be  led  by  virtue,  and  uniformity  sought 
to  be  given  them  by  the  rules  of  propriety,  they 
will  have  the  sense  of  shame,  and  moreover  will 
become  good.' " 

Higher  Law. 

11  Without  recognizing  the  ordinances  of  Heaven, 
it  is  impossible  to  be  a  superior  man." 

The  Master  did  not  suggest  new  methods  of  instruc- 
tion, or  lay  down  an  original  course  of  study.  He 
only  indorsed  the  scheme  given  in  the  Book  of  Rites, 
and  other  ancient  classics,  which  it  was  the  crown- 
ing work  of  his  life  to  edit  for  the  people's  use.  The 
technical  branches  taught  were  reading,  writing,  arith- 
metic, ceremonies,  music,  archery,  and  charioteering. 
At  the  age  of  seven,  children  learned  to  count  and 
to  distinguish  the  cardinal  points  ;  at  nine,  to  number 
the  days  of  the  month  ;  at  ten,  the  boys  were  sent  to 
live  with  teachers  who  instructed  them  for  about  ten 
years,  first  in  numbers  and  writing,  later  in  music 
and  the  odes,  and  lastly  in  archery  and  horsemanship. 
Lessons  in  filial  duty  and  the  rules  of  propriety  were 
never  intermitted. 

Girls  received  little  or  no  education  of  a  literary 
kind,  but  plenty  of  advice  on  the  duty  of  submission 
to  the  other  sex.  Mothers  are  honored  in  China  as 
such  ;  but  woman  as  woman  is,  and  always  has  been, 


152  ESSAYS 

held  in  low  esteem.  Confucius  hardly  more  than 
alludes  to  the  female  part  of  creation.  He  says 
somewhere,  — 

"  Of  all  people,  girls  and  servants  are  the  most  difficult  to  behave 
to.  If  you  are  familiar  with  them,  they  lose  their  humility.  If  you 
maintain  a  reserve  towards  them,  they  are  discontented." 

The  system  of  lifelong  studentship  and  competi- 
tive examinations,  for  which  China  is  famous,  though 
not  instituted  until  many  centuries  after  Confucius, 
naturally  grew  out  of  his  doctrines,  and  has  always 
been  sustained  by  citing  them.  .  .  .  The  sage  passed 
from  earth  nearly  twenty-three  centuries  ago,  but 
how  vital  his  influence  still  is  may  be  learned  from 
the  following  passage  taken  from  a  biographical  sketch 
by  Dr.  Legge  :  — 

"  At  the  present  day  education  is  widely  diffused  throughout  China, 
and  in  all  the  schools  it  is  Confucius  who  is  taught.  .  .  .  The  whole 
of  the  magistracy  is  thus  versed  in  all  that  is  recorded  of  the  sage 
and  in  the  ancient  literature  which  he  preserved.  His  thoughts  are 
familiar  to  every  man  in  authority,  and  his  character  is  more  or  less 
reproduced  in  him. 

"  The  official  civilians  of  China,  numerous  as  they  are,  are  but  a 
fraction  of  its  students,  and  the  students,  or  those  who  make  literature 
a  profession,  are  again  but  a  fraction  of  those  who  attend  school  for  a 
shorter  or  longer  period.  Yet  so  far  as  the  studies  have  gone,  they 
have  been  occupied  with  the  Confucian  writings.  In  many  school- 
rooms there  is  a  tablet  or  inscription  on  the  wall,  sacred  to  the  sage, 
and  every  pupil  is  required,  on  coming  to  school  on  the  morning  of  the 
first  and  fifteenth  of  every  month,  to  bow  before  it  the  first  thing  as 
an  act  of  worship.  Thus  all  in  China  who  receive  the  slightest  tinc- 
ture of  learning  do  so  at  the  fountain  of  Confucius.  They  learn  of 
him  and  do  homage  to  him  at  once.  .  .  .  During  his  lifetime  he  had 
three  thousand  disciples.  Hundreds  of  millions  are  his  disciples 
now." 


STUDIES    IN    THE    HISTORY    OF    EDUCATION  153 

2.    EDUCATION    IN    ANCIENT    GREECE.1 

The  fundamental  conception  that  every  child 
belongs  to  the  state,  and  is  destined  to  a  prescribed 
public  service,  had  great  influence  in  suggesting  laws 
and  shaping  institutions  in  early  Greece.  This  is 
particularly  true  of  Sparta,  where  the  grasp  of  civic 
power  was  fastened  upon  the  babe  in  the  nursery, 
and  was  not  withdrawn  from  the  veteran  of  three- 
score years.  Even  in  the  Hellenic  democracies  per- 
sonal independence  was  almost  swallowed  up  in  the 
duties  of  citizenship.  The  conception  which  the 
Greeks  held  of  right  life,  the  essence  of  their  religion, 
and  the  spirit  of  their  education,  tended  to  the  sup- 
pression of  individuality  and  the  promotion  of  the 
state.  The  laws  of  Lycurgus  assumed  the  power  and 
glory  of  Sparta  to  be  the  objects  for  which  the  Laco- 
nian  citizen  existed.  Military  service  was  the  Spar- 
tan's first  and  greatest  duty.  Hence  military  educa- 
tion was  the  chief  concern  of  the  state.  Every  male 
child  born  in  Sparta  was  a  potential  soldier,  or  nothing. 
The  children  of  the  Spartans  were  subjected  to  an 
examination  soon  after  birth  ;  the  robust  and  promis- 
ing were  adopted  by  the  family  amid  festive  rejoicings, 
the  feeble  or  deformed  were  exposed  on  bleak  Tay- 
getus.  The  barbarous  custom  of  exposing  infants 
was  legally  authorized  in  all  Grecian  states  excepting 
Thebes.  The  laws  and  customs  of  Athens  were 

1  The  principal  authorities  upon  which  this  article  is  based  are  Curtius's  "  History 
of  Greece,"  Becker's  "  Charicles,"  and  Schmidt's  "  History  of  Pedagogics." 


154  ESSAYS 

more  liberal  and  humane  than  those  of  Sparta.  The 
far-reaching  mind  of  Solon  recognized  in  the  generous 
education  of  youth  a  guaranty  of  the  growth  and  per- 
manence of  the  Attic  capital.  His  laws  held  fathers 
responsible  for  the  education  of  their  sons,  and  aimed 
to  foster  popular  culture  without  subjecting  it  to 
stringent  state  control.  The  Athenian  family  was 
freer  than  the  Spartan.  Individual  liberty  and  the 
prevalence  of  mental  activity  made  Athens  the  centre 
of  ancient  culture.  Athens  stands  for  Greece  ;  her 
life  presents  the  best  results  of  Hellenic  civilization. 
In  the  better  class  of  Greek  families  the  child, 
when  formally  accepted  by  the  father,  was  intrusted 
to  the  care  of  a  trained  nurse,  one  from  Lacedaemon 
being  considered  best.  The  nurse  suckled  her  little 
charge,  fed  him  honey,  carried  him  much  in  the 
open  air,  dandled  him  in  her  arms,  and  sang  him  to 
sleep  with  lullabies.  Great  pains  was  taken  to  insure 
bodily  health  and  symmetry  in  babyhood.  The 
child's  body  and  limbs  were  shaped  with  the  hands. 
No  haste  was  allowed  in  teaching  children  to  walk. 
Nurture  and  growth  were  superintended  with  a  wise 
moderation  that  aimed  at  the  sure  if  slow  develop- 
ment of  a  sound,  strong  body.  The  Greeks  well 
knew  that  nature  cannot  be  forced.  They  let  the 
children  have  a  long  time  and  a  good  time  in  the 
nursery.  Toys  were  provided  in  abundance,  such  as 
rattles,  .dolls,  hoops,  tops,  and  little  wagons.  Many 
juvenile  games  were  in  vogue,  one  of  which  was 
much  like  blindman's  buff.  The  misdemeanors  of 


STUDIES    IN    THE    HISTORY    OF    EDUCATION          155 

the  nursery  were  punished  by  the  appropriate  ap- 
plication of  a  slipper  or  sandal  to  the  young  Hellene's 
person.  Sometimes  the  offender  was  terrified  into 
submission  by  frightful  stories  corresponding  to  the 
"  Raw  Head  and  Bloody  Bones  "  of  modern  times. 
On  the  other  hand,  obedience  and  docility  were  re- 
warded by  copious  narratives,  usually  of  a  marvellous 
sort,  from  the  rich  repertory  of  fable  and  myth.  Skill 
in  story-telling  was  a  chief  accomplishment  of  the 
nurse.  At  the  age  of  about  six,  the  boys  were  sepa- 
rated from  the  girls,  put  under  the  care  of  a  peda- 
gogue, and  sent  to  school.  The  girls  received  little 
or  no  education  except  from  their  mothers  and 
nurses. 

The  pedagogue  was  usually  a  slave  of  good  char- 
acter and  education.  "The  democratic  atmosphere 
of  Athens,"  says  Dr.  Curtius,  "was  in  favor  even  of 
the  unfree  class,  arid  to  the  annoyance  of  the  aristo- 
crats encouraged  the  cultivation  of  humane  and  kindly 
relations  between  the  master  and  the  slave."  Polite- 
ness and  gracefulness  of  carriage  were  particularly 
valued  in  the  pedagogue,  who  was  expected  to  serve 
as  a  model  of  behavior  to  his  charge.  It  was  his 
duty  to  accompany  the  boys  to  and  from  the  school 
and  gymnasium,  to  carry  their  books  and  harp,  and 
to  exercise  a  general  superintendence  over  their  con- 
duct. He  gave  incidental  instruction  and  advice, 
but  took  no  part  in  the  regular  work  of  the  school. 
This  was  intrusted  exclusively  to  the  preceptor.  The 
schools  were  all  private.  The  state  never  entertained 


156  ESSAYS 

the  idea  of  building  schoolhouses,  or  supporting 
teachers  at  the  public  cost.  But  education  was  de- 
manded and  encouraged  by  law,  and  recognized  by 
the  people  as  an  element  of  power.  Almost  all  the 
Athenian  boys  were  sent  to  some  sort  of  school  for 
a  longer  or  shorter  time,  according  to  the  ability  of 
their  parents.  The  rich  could  command  the  best 
of  teachers  ;  the  poor  were  obliged  to  accept  inferior 
ones.  As  a  rule,  the  office  of  preceptor  was  not  in 
high  repute.  It  was  regarded  as  menial,  and  often 
fell  to  persons  who  were  thought  unfit  to  make  a 
living  in  any  other  vocation. 

The  elementary  Hellenic  education  was  simple  in 
kind  and  method.  The  art  of  reading  was  taught, 
then  the  pupils  were  set  to  learn  by  heart  passages 
from  approved  poets  and  moralists.  The  fables  of 
^Esop  and  the  poems  of  Theognis  were  among  the 
text-books  used.  Homer,  however,  was  the  great 
fountain-head  of  instruction,  the  source  alike  of 
knowledge,  patriotism,  and  religion.  Next  to  Homer 
Hesiod  furnished  the  Greek  youth  with  material  of 
education.  This  preliminary  instruction  was  fol- 
lowed by  a  course  including  what  were  regarded  as 
the  two  essential .  parts  of  education — gymnastics 
and  music.  Gymnastics  included  wrestling,  dancing, 
and  many  athletic  and  graceful  exercises ;  also  bath- 
ing, and  whatever  else  conduces  to  perfect  health, 
strength,  agility,  and  physical  self-control.  Sceoda- 
mus  says  to  Ulysses,  in  the  eighth  book  of  the 
Odyssey  :  — 


STUDIES    IN    THE    HISTORY    OF    EDUCATION  157 

"  I  think 

Thou  must  be  skilled  in  games,  since  there  is  not 
A  glory  greater  for  a  man  while  yet 
He  lives  on  earth  than  what  he  hath  wrought  out, 
By  strenuous  effort,  with  his  feet  and  hands." 

Bryant's  Od.  vol.  i.,  p.  187. 

Music  comprehended  not  only  singing  and  practice 
upon  the  harp,  but  grammar,  geography,  and  mathe- 
matics—  in  the  language  of  Grote,  "  everything  per- 
taining to  the  province  of  the  nine  Muses/' 

Gymnastics  and  music,  or  physical  and  intellectual 
culture,  were  inseparably  united.  The  body  was 
considered  as  of  equal  importance  with  the  soul. 
The  sound  body  was  thought  essential  to  the  sound 
mind.  Curtius  gives  the  following  succinct  character- 
ization of  the  Athenian  school  culture:  — 

"  Grammar,  music,  and  gymnastics  exhausted  the  circle  of  teaching, 
the  first  two  of  these  departments  being  closely  connected  with  one 
another.  For,  when  the  boy  had  learned  to  read  and  write,  he  read 
the  poets;  he  learnt  to  declaim  them,  and  with  the  words  appropri- 
ated to  himself  the  wealth  of  their  subject-matter.  Reason  and  feel- 
ing, taste  and  judgment,  were  developed  by  his  habituating  himself 
more  and  more  to  the  ideas  of  poets  of  high  and  universal  reputation. 
The  declamation  of  poems  led  to  the  accompaniment  on  stringed  in- 
struments, and  to  the  accurate  acquaintance  with  the  different  rhythms. 
The  power  of  the  musical  art  proved  its  elevating  and  refining  in- 
fluence upon  the  minds  of  the  young,  without  the  intentional  char- 
acter of  moral  instruction  disclosing  itself  to  them." 

3.    PLATO    AND    EDUCATION. 

All  Greek  culture  points  to  Plato  as  the  ripe  result 
of  its  influence.  He  is  the  summing  up  and  embodi- 
ment of  the  intelligence  of  his  day.  He  knew  all 


158  ESSAYS 

that  Athens  could  impart,  all  the  science  of  the 
Pythagoreans,  and  all  the  lore  of  the  Egyptians.  He 
knew,  and  could  use  what  he  knew.  Plato  is  the 
greatest  name  in  education,  and  his  dialogues  are  the 
true  point  of  departure  for  whoever  would  trace 
the  winding  road  along  which  nations  and  individuals 
have  pursued  human  culture  for  the  last  twenty- 
three  hundred  years.  Pedagogy  without  Plato  is  like 
a  tree  without  a  tap-root.  Professor  Jowett  observes 
that  the  Republic  is  the  "  first  treatise  on  education 
of  which  Milton  and  Locke,  Rousseau,  Jean  Paul,  and 
Goethe  are  the  legitimate  descendants."  It  is  a  fact 
curiously  illustrative  of  the  dearth  of  human  inge- 
nuity that  twenty  centuries  have  added  almost  nothing 
to  our  knowledge  of  the  mind  and  the  right  method 
of  its  development. 

According  to  the  scanty  record  which  history  fur- 
nishes, Plato  was  born  at  ^Egina,  429  B.C.,  the  year 
in  which  Pericles  died.  He  lived  through  a  period  of 
eighty-one  years,  and  expired,  it  is  said,  in  the  act  of 
writing,  or,  according  to  another  authority,  with  his 
head  pillowed  upon  some  favorite  books.  He  was  of 
doubly  illustrious  blood,  his  father  being  a  descend- 
ant of  Codrus,  a  Hellenic  king,  and  his  mother  a 
relative  of  Solon,  the  wise  lawgiver.  His  book-edu- 
cation was  supplemented  by  extensive  travel  and 
familiar  intercourse  with  the  most  famous  men  of 
his  time,  especially  with  Socrates,  his  great  teacher. 
How  well  was  he  fitted  by  nature,  by  study,  and  by 
experience  to  comprehend  the  intellectual  and  moral 


STUDIES    IN    THE    HISTORY    OF    EDUCATION          159 

condition  of  the  people  of  Athens,  and  to  show  them 
the  highway  of  reform !  He  was  wise  enough  to  be 
moderate.  He  saw  evil  enough,  but  was  no  rash  in- 
novator. He  could  wait  patiently  for  the  leaven  of 
his  transforming  philosophy  to  work.  It  is  working 
to-day.  Transmitted  through  centuries  and  nations, 
it  swells  and  flavors  the  educational  loaf  of  Germany, 
France,  England,  and  America. 

What  we  call  our  advance  ideas  in  education  were 
anticipated  by  Plato.  To  the  Greeks  they  seemed 
Utopian  dreams  and  poetic  rhapsodies.  All  of 
Plato's  works  abound  in  educational  hints  and  sug- 
gestions ;  but  the  Republic  and  the  Laws  contain 
direct  discussions  on  teaching  and  training,  and  may 
be  considered,  as  a  commentator  declares,  "  theories 
and  plans  of  civic  education  rather  than  schemes  of 
legislation  and  details  of  laws."  In  his  two  great 
works  Plato  develops  a  philosopher's  conception  of 
a  perfect  human  society  —  an  ideal  commonwealth. 
His  scheme  of  education  reaches  its  grandest  propor- 
tions in  the  Republic,  though  in  the  Laws,  written 
later,  much  of  practical  importance  may  be  found, 
and  perhaps  a  nearer  approach  to  the  ordinary 
modern  conception  of  the  aims  and  objects  of 
schooling.  The  materials  upon  which  this  article  is 
based  are  drawn  mainly  from  the  Republic. 

It  is  not  possible  to  separate  in  the  Republic  what 
belongs  purely  to  Plato  from  what  belongs  to  the 
prevailing  system  of  education.  In  building  his  new 
ship  the  philosopher  would  model  it  somewhat  on  the 


l6o  ESSAYS 

old  plan,  and  would  use  such  of  the  old  timbers  as 
were  sound  and  serviceable.  The  new  ship  was  to 
meet  all  the  useful  ends  of  the  old,  and  to  be  infi- 
nitely larger  and  grander. 

As  man,  in  Plato's  view,  was  destined  to  live  for 
the  state,  his  training  should  fit  him  for  civic  duties, 
and  it  should  be  prescribed  and  enforced  by  the 
state.  It  was  the  state's  duty  to  educate  the  citizen, 
as  it  was  the  citizen's  duty  to  serve  the  state.  Edu- 
cation should  be  compulsory.  This  was  new  doctrine. 
Teachers  should  be  maintained  at  the  public  cost. 
This  was  new  doctrine.  The  girls  should  be  edu- 
cated in  the  same  way  as  the  boys,  for  a  woman  is 
"  but  a  lesser  man."  This  was  new  doctrine.  Plato 
urged  women's  rights  and  duties  to  an  extent  that 
would  startle  Mrs.  Livermore.  He  would  have 
women  share  in  all  the  hardships  of  life,  not  except- 
ing war. 

His  whole  scheme  of  government  and  education  is 
tinctured  with  a  strong  admiration  of  Spartan  severity. 
In  the  Ideal  Republic,  the  women  and  children  were 
to  be  in  common,  and  no  parent  was  to  know  his 
own  child.  This  is  not  the  only  Platonic  notion  re- 
pugnant to  the  modern  mind.  Like  Wilhelm  Meister, 
we  are  shocked  and  saddened  at  the  discovery  of  a 
defect  in  a  writer  whom  we  honor.  But  a  candid 
recognition  of  Plato's  shortcomings,  or  of  his  differ- 
ences from  us,  is  necessary  to  a  correct  appreciation 
of  his  merits.  He  differs  radically  from  enlightened 
moderns  in  regard  to  the  relative  rank  and  value  of 


STUDIES    IN    THE    HISTORY    OF    EDUCATION  l6l 

men.  He  adopted  the  Oriental  idea  of  caste.  He 
represented  the  different  classes  of  men,  under  the 
symbols,  gold,  silver,  brass,  and  iron.  The  husband- 
man must  remain  a  husbandman,  the  potter  a  potter. 
He  believed  in  the  educability  of  men,  not  of  man. 
Brass  and  iron  were  born  to  menial  stations,  —  born 
to  be  governed  and  used.  Gold  and  silver  were  by 
nature  susceptible  of  culture,  were  noble,  were  fit  to 
become  guardians  and  rulers  of  the  state.  It  is  not 
strange  that  with  this  aristocratic  view  of  society, 
Plato  should  associate  contempt  for  common  people 
and  manual  labor ;  or  that  he  should  see  nothing 
wrong  in  the  fact  that  the  proportion  of  slaves  to  free 
burghers  was  as  twenty  to  one  in  Attica. 

Plato's  primary  conception  of  a  state  implies  the 
existence  of  a  large  number  of  ignorant,  dependent, 
but  productive  citizens,  under  the  control  and  direc- 
tion of  a  few  select  guardians  and  rulers  of  both 
sexes.  The  guardians  are  to  be  soldiers  as  well  as 
civilians.  The  description  of  their  nurture  and 
training  constitutes  Plato's  scheme  of  education. 
They  are  to  be  the  offspring  of  the  most  perfect 
parents.  Their  nurture  even  anticipates  birth,  and 
prescribes  that  the  conduct  of  a  woman  in  pregnancy 
should  be  moderate,  gentle,  and  gracious ;  and  that 
her  physical  habits  should  be  such  as  to  secure  the 
highest  degree  of  health  and  vigor  in  her  child. 
The  infant's  first  three  years  should  be  exempt  from 
fear  and  pain.  Strong,  prudent,  and  intelligent 
nurses  ought  to  be  secured.  The  children  require  a 


1 62  ESSAYS 

great  deal  of  exercise  and  amusement  ;  and  they 
should  be  provided  with  toys  and  sports  adapted  to 
their  age.  Much  stress  is  laid  upon  the  importance 
of  beginning  right.  Man  is  potentially  a  being  beau- 
tiful, strong,  and  good.  If  the  body  is  healthy  from 
the  start,  if  the  mind  is  wisely  directed  in  its  first 
motions,  and  if  favorable  influence  continue,  the 
child  will  inevitably  expand  into  the  proportions  of 
a  right  man.  The  primary  education  is  to  give  the 
body  natural  growth,  to  surround  children  with  all 
good  and  wholesome  stimulations  by  which  they  may 
develop  into  happy  youth,  as  a  rose  blossoms.  Much 
freedom  is  to  be  granted  in  childhood,  but  not  license. 
Respect  for  parents  and  elders  must  be  maintained. 
Punishments  are  sometimes  requisite,  but  should 
never  be  ignominious,  or  inflicted  in  anger.  As 
children  grow  older,  they  are  to  be  held  with  a 
tighter  rein.  "Of  all  animals,  the  boy  is  the  most 
unmanageable,  inasmuch  as  he  has  the  fountain 
of  reason  in  him  not  yet  regulated.  He  is  the 
most  insidious,  sharp-witted,  and  insubordinate  of 
animals." 

At  the  age  of  six  the  sexes  are  to  be  separated, 
and  sent  to  school.  And,  now,  what  shall  the  train- 
ing be  ?  Is  there  a  better  than  the  time-honored 
curriculum,  gymnastics  for  the  body,  and  music  or 
literature  for  the  soul  ? 

Literature  is  to  be  taught,  not  so  much  as  a  matter 
of  knowledge,  as  a  means  of  forming  correct  moral 
principles  and  mental  habits.  Tales  and  poems  are 


STUDIES    IN    THE    HISTORY    OF    EDUCATION          163 

to  be  committed  to  memory,  but  only  such  as  con- 
vey a  proper  lesson.  The  young  and  tender  mind 
must  receive  only  right  impressions.  To  this  end 
mythology  should  be  expurgated.  Homer  and  the 
other  poets  are  to  be  cleansed  of  all  that  encourages 
intemperance  and  lust,  and  all  that  tends  to  produce 
terror,  such  as  horrible  descriptions  of  Hades.  The 
gods  are  to  be  represented,  not  as  yielding  to  the 
passions  and  vices  common  to  men,  but  as  beings 
altogether  pure  and  noble.  Plato's  education  is 
based  on  a  religious  creed  at  once  simple  and  sub- 
lime. God  is  good  and  unchangeable.  All  tales 
that  teach  the  contrary  are  to  be  rejected,  no  matter 
how  great  their  literary  merit.  True  piety,  sound 
morality,  must  be  inculcated,  whatever  be  left 
out.  Do  not  Christian  teachers  stand  rebuked 
by  a  solemn  voice  sounding  across  the  lapse  of 
twenty  hundred  years  ?  With  us  intellect  comes 
first,  and  morality  is  only  incidental. 

Music  proper  Plato  would  teach  with  reference  to 
its  effect  on  character,  not  as  a  mere  polite  accom- 
plishment. The  form  and  quality  of  music  best 
adapted  to  educate  are  carefully  considered.  Words, 
melody,  and  rhythm  are  discussed.  The  only  instru- 
ments thought  desirable  are  "  the  lyre  and  the  harp  for 
the  city,  and  a  pipe  for  the  country."  The  wonderful 
influence  of  music  in  regulating  the  human  mind  and 
heart  is  dwelt  upon  in  eloquent  strains. 

"  Is  not  this  the  reason  why  musical  training  is  so 
powerful,  because  rhythm  and  harmony  find  their  way 


164  ESSAYS 

into  the  secret  places  of  the  soul,  on  which  they 
mightily  fasten,  bearing  grace  in  their  movements, 
and  making  the-  soul  graceful  of  him  who  is  rightly 
educated,  or  ungraceful  if  ill-educated  ;  and  also  be- 
cause he  who  has  received  this -true  education  of  the 
inner  being  will  most  shrewdly  perceive  omissions 
or  faults  in  art  and  nature,  and  with  a  true  taste, 
while  he  praises  and  rejoices  over,  and  receives  into 
his  soul  the  good,  and  becomes  noble  and  good,  he 
will  justly  blame  and  hate  the  bad,  now  in  the  days 
of  his  youth,  even  before  he  is  able  to  know  the  rea- 
son of  the  thing ;  and  when  reason  comes  he  will 
recognize  and  salute  her  as  a  friend  with  whom  his 
education  has  made  him  long  familiar." 

Under  gymnastics  Plato  considers  the  general  care 
of  the  body,  recommending  temperance  and  modera- 
tion in  exercise  and  diet.  Seasoning  in  food  and  all 
the  "delicacies  of  Athenian  confectionery"  are  to 
be  avoided.  Extreme  simplicity  in  all  things  is  en- 
joined. Simplicity  in  music  "engenders  temperance 
of  soul;"  in  gymnastics,  "bodily  health."  The  rightly 
educated  person  should  need  neither  magistrate  nor 
physician.  He  should  be  a  law  to  himself  as  to 
conduct  and  as  to  health.  Soul-culture  should  keep 
him  from  violating  the  laws  of  the  state  ;  gymnastics 
should  keep  him  physically  well.  Respecting  the 
relative  importance  of  literature  and  gymnastics, 
Plato  departed  from  the  established  opinion  of  the 
ancients.  He  was  the  first  to  declare  the  absolute 
superiority  of*  the  soul  to  the  body.  "  The  good 


STUDIES    IN    THE    HISTORY    OF    EDUCATION  165 

body,"  he  says,  "does  not  improve  the  soul,  but  the 
good  soul  improves  the  body.  Then  if  we  have  edu- 
cated the  mind,  the  minuter  care  of  the  body  may 
properly  be  committed  to  the  mind." 

Plato  regards  studies  and  exercises  as  a  means  and 
not  an  end.  Every  faculty  exists  in  embryo  in  the 
child  ;  education  calls  it  out.  The  fewer  the  methods 
of  education,  the  better,  provided  they  answer  the 
purpose  of  giving  body  and  mind  the  use  of  them- 
selves. Quintilian  likens  the  mind  to  a  vessel  to  be 
filled  ;  Plato  compares  it  to  an  eye  turned  toward 
objects,*and  thus  made  sensible  of  its  power  of  see- 
ing. Education  is  "  not  implanting  eyes,  for  they 
exist  already,  but  giving  them  a  right  direction,  which 
they  have  not."  How  beautiful,  how  elevating  this 
conception  !  The  soul  is  designed  to  compass  the 
universe  in  its  bright  vision.  Education  is  the  ad- 
justment of  the  soul  to  the  eternal  verities.  Pursu- 
ing his  own  studies  upon  this  lofty  plane,  even  in  the 
glimmering  light  of  ancient  science,  Plato  reached 
the  grand  generalization  that  all  knowledge  is  one,  — 
a  proposition  which  we  are  in  the  habit  of  regarding 
as  of  purely  modern  development. 

The  preliminary  education  we  have  described  is 
interrupted  when  the  pupils  arrive  at  the  age  of  six- 
teen, and  are  subjected  to  a  trial  of  practical  life. 
When  they  reach  the  age  of  twenty,  a  selection  of 
right  natures  is  to  be  chosen,  for  a  higher  education. 
Sure,  brave,  fair,  and  noble  persons,  of  keen  and 
ready  powers  of  acquisition  and  good  memory,  are 


l66  ESSAYS 

to  be  selected.  These  only  can  become  good  guard- 
ians. They  must  be  "  unwearied,  solid  men,  lovers 
of  labor  in  any  line."  To  these  shall  be  imparted  a 
knowledge  of  arithmetic,  geometry,  and  astronomy. 
Plato  attached  great  value  to  mathematics  as  devel- 
oping the  power  of  abstract  thought.  Dialectic  was 
next  to  be  studied.  This  is  "  the  coping-stone  of  the 
sciences  ;  the  nature  of  knowledge  can  go  no  further." 
The  dialectician  is  "one  who  has  a  conception  of 
the  essence  of  each  thing,"  an  abstract  true  idea 
of  justice,  truth,  beauty,  virtue,  wisdom. 

Again,  education  is  to  be  interrupted,  and  its  value 
tested,  by  application  to  practical  duties.  The  edu- 
cated man  is  not  to  rest  satisfied  with  the  contempla- 
tion of  his  own  attainments  ;  he  must  descend  to  the 
aid  of  his  fellows.  He  should  be  not  only  a  right 
thinker,  but  a  perfect  practical  statesman.  He  must 
not  spend  all  his  time  in  the  "  heaven  of  ideas  ; "  he 
must  serve  the  state  in  the  "  den  of  common  life." 

At  the  age  of  thirty,  the  best  are  once  more  to 
be  selected  from  the  best,  and  put  to  school  once 
more.  These  choice  natures  finally  become  the 
highest  rulers,  the  kings  of  the  state.  Only  ripe 
philosophers  can  become  kings.  They  are  to  devote  . 
themselves  to  study  for  five  years.  They  are  to 
review,  classify,  and  sum  up  all  the  knowledge  here- 
tofore acquired.  They  are  then  to  devote  fifteen 
years  to  the  highest  concerns  of  the  state,  —  to  lead 
armies,  to  govern  cities. 

"And  when  they  have  reached  fifty  years  of  age, 


STUDIES    IN    THE    HISTORY    OF    EDUCATION          l6/ 

th^n  let  those  who  still  survive  and  have  distin- 
gu.shed  themselves  in  every  deed  and  in  all  knowl- 
edge come  at  last  to  their  consummation.  The  time 
has  now  arrived  at  which  they  must  raise  the  eye  of 
the  soul  to  the  universal  light  which  lightens  all 
things,  and  behold  the  absolute  good  ;  for  that  is  the 
pattern  according  to  which  they  are  to  order  the 
state  and  the  lives  of  individuals,  and  the  remainder 
of  their  own  lives  also,  making  philosophy  their  chief 
pursuit ;  but  when  their  turn  comes,  also  toiling  at 
politics  and  ruling  for  the  public  good,  not  as  if  they 
were  doing  some  great  thing,  but  of  necessity  ;  and 
when  they  have  brought  up  others  like  them,  and 
left  them  to  be  governors  of  the  state,  then  will  they 
depart  to  the  Islands  of  the  Blest,  and  dwell  there; 
and  the  city  will  give  them  public  memorials  and 
sacrifices,  and  honor  them,  if  the  Pythian  oracle  con- 
sent, as  demigods,  and  at  any  rate,  as  blessed  and 
divine." 

Having  led  us  to  this  mountain  summit  of  human 
possibility,  Plato  points,  with  encouraging  cheerful- 
ness, to  ultra-mundane  heights,  and  fresh  fields  of 
endeavor  beyond  time.  Not  discouraged  at  the 
meagre  results  which  the  culture  of  this  life  returns, 
he  makes  the  best  of  mortality  happy  to  even  begin 
"  something  which  avails  against  the  day  when  we 
live  again  and  hold  discourse  in  another  existence." 

Plato's  scheme  of  education,  as  a  system,  is  totally 
inapplicable  to  our  modern  wants.  Nevertheless, 
separated  from  the  state,  or  modified  as  to  certain 


l68  ESSAYS 

impracticable  features,  and  broadened  at  the  base,  so 
as  to  embrace  the  many  as  well  as  the  few,  it  might 
serve  us  a  very  good  purpose  —  at  least  as  an  ideal. 
Modern  educational  theories  are  better  than  ancient, 
chiefly  because  they  are  more  humane  and  universal. 
They  assume  that  all  men  are  educable,  even  crimi- 
nals, mad  men,  and  idiots.  Modern  society  appre- 
ciates brass  and  iron,  and  modern  education  is  the 
bold  alchemy  which  transmutes  base  into  noble,  and 
noble  into  nobler  still. 

Plato's  educational  value  to  us  is  discovered,  not  in 
his  system,  but  in  particular  discussions  and  sug- 
gestions. He  is  rich  in  maxims.  He  is  the  father 
of  object  teaching  and  kindergartens.  In  the  char- 
acter of  Socrates,  he  paints  a  model  teacher.  His 
dialogues  are  acknowledged  to  be  "the  best  examples 
of  the  nature  and  method  of  dialectic."  Joubert 
says,  "  Plato  found  philosophy  made  of  bricks,  and 
made  it  of  gold."  I  know  of  no  other  work  so  prof- 
itable for  the  seeker  of  general  culture  to  peruse  as 
Plato.  Jowett's  translation  furnishes  us  with  the 
entire  work  in  clear  and  beautiful  English.  So  sen- 
sible, so  invigorating,  so  amusing  are  these  splendid, 
dialogues,  that  one  involuntarily  repeats  Emerson's 
question,  "  Why  not  educate  our  young  men  on  this 
book  ? " 
x 

4.    ARISTOTLE    AND    EDUCATION. 

Aristotle  was   born  nearly  four    centuries  before 
Christ,   at   Stagira,  a  city  on  the  coast  of  Thrace. 


STUDIES    IN    THE    HISTORY    OF    EDUCATION          169 

He  came  to  Athens  while  yet  in  his  teens,  attracted 
by  the  genius  of  Plato.  He  became  a  disciple  of  the 
great  philosopher,  and  soon  distinguished  himself  for 
industry  and  ability.  Plato  called  him  the  mind  of 
the  academy.  With  what  a  copious  flow  the  stream 
of  eloquent  instruction  must  have  run  from  such  a 
master  to  such  a  pupil !  The  enthusiastic  teacher  will 
credit  the  tradition  which  affirms  that  when  Aristotle 
happened  to  be  absent  from  the  lecture,  Plato  ap- 
peared spiritless,  and  complained  that  he  spoke  to 
deaf  auditors. 

Aristotle  remained  in  Athens  for  about  twenty 
years,  devoting  himself  to  study  and  philosophical 
pursuits.  Shortly  after  Plato's  death,  which  occurred 
in  338  B.C.,  he  removed  to  the  Mysian  city  of  Atar- 
neus,  where  he  spent  three  years  at  the  court  of 
Hermias,  his  friend  and  fellow-student,. —  a  philos- 
opher king.  Hermias,  falling  into  the  power  of 
the  King  of  Persia,  was  taken  prisoner,  sent  to  Asia, 
and  hanged  ;  and  Aristotle  fled  for  safety  from  Atar- 
neus  to  the  Isle  of  Lesbos.  He  was  accompanied  in 
his  flight  by  Pythias,  sister  of  Hermias,  whom  he 
.had  just  married,  and  whom  he  is  said  to  have  loved 
with  an  extravagant  passion.  Pythias  died  within  a 
year  or  two,  and  Aristotle  soon  afterward  sailed  to 
Macedonia,  on  the  invitation  of  Philip,  to  undertake 
the  education  of  the  prince,  afterward  Alexander 
the  Great.  Philip  and  Aristotle  were  intimate  in 
boyhood,  and  they  continued  lifelong  friends.  Upon 
the  birth  of  Alexander,  the  king  sent  the  phi- 
losopher this  message  :  — • 


ESSAYS 

"  Know  that  a  son  is  born  to  us.  We  thank  the  gods  for  their 
gift,  but  especially  for  bestowing  it  when  Aristotle  lives ;  assuring 
ourselves,  that,  educated  by  you,  he  will  be  worthy  of  us,  and  worthy 
of  inheriting  our  kingdom." 

Alexander  was  fourteen  years  old,  and  Aristotle 
about  forty,  when  they  first  came  together  in  the 
relation  of  pupil  and  tutor.  This  relation  continued 
for  eight  years,  and  we  may  conjecture  that  it  was  of 
no  small  benefit  to  Aristotle,  as  affording  prepara- 
tion for  his  future  work.  By  imparting  knowledge 
to  others,  we  establish  it  in  ourselves.  What  finer 
culture  can  be  imagined  than  to  be  taught  by  Plato, 
and  to  teach  Alexander  ! 

Aristotle,  ripened  by  years  and  a  varied  experience, 
returned  to  Athens  and  established  his  celebrated 
schools  in  the  Lyceum.  This  Lyceum  was  a  "gymna- 
sium in  the  suburbs,  well  shaded  with  trees,  near  to 
which  the  soldiers  used  to  exercise,  and  adorned  by 
the  Temple  of  Lycian  Apollo,  from  whose  peripaton, 
or  walk,  Aristotle  and  his  followers  were  called 
Peripatetics."  Aristotle,  like  other  teachers  of  an- 
tiquity, had  two  forms  of  lecture,  acroatic  or  esoteric 
and  encyclic  or  exoteric.  The  acroatic  lectures  were 
set  discourses  addressed  to  his  regular  pupils,  and 
were  read  in  the  morning  at  the  Lyceum.  The  en- 
cyclic discourses  were  on  the  same  or  similar  topics 
as  the  acroatic,  but  were  popular  in  style,  and  adapted 
to  the  general  learner.  They  were  truly  peripatetic 
lectures  or  talks,  being  given  informally  after  supper, 
and  while  walking  about  for  exercise  of  body  and 


STUDIES    IN    THE    HISTORY    OF    EDUCATION  I /I 

relaxation  of  mind.  Only  the  acroatic  treatises  have 
come  down  to  us,  and  they  in  a  mutilated  condition. 

For  a  period  of  thirteen  years  Aristotle  continued 
to  instruct  the  young  men  of  Athens  in  the  science 
and  philosophy  of  his  age.  His  splendid  career 
then  drew  to  a  dreary  close,  as  the  sun  sets  in  gath- 
ering clouds.  Like  Socrates,  he  was  accused  before 
the  Areopagus  of  irreligion  ;  like  Socrates,  he  was 
misrepresented  and  persecuted,  and  recalling  the 
fate  of  Socrates,  he  went,  self-banished,  to  Chalcis  in 
Eubcea,  to  prevent  the  Athenians,  as  he  sadly  said, 
from  committing  a  second  sin  against  philosophy. 
He  died,  in  Euboea,  before  the  expiration  of  a  year, 
at  the  age  of  sixty-three. 

It  was  inevitable  that  a  man  of  Aristotle's  as- 
sociations and  pursuits  should  consider  deeply  the 
subject  of  education.  He  did  so,  and  some  of  his 
conclusions  on  this  subject  may  easily  be  gathered 
from  his  preserved  writings.  There  is  a  severe  unity 
binding  together  his  treatises  on  Ethics  and  Politics, 
and  by  reading  these  works,  we  learn  his  conception 
of  man  and  the  training  that  fits  man  for  the  highest 
duties  and  truest  happiness. 

According  to  the  ethics  of  Aristotle,  the  sour  is 
capable  of  two  kinds  of  virtue,  moral  and  intellectual. 
Moral  virtue  rules  that  part  of  our  nature  which  is 
most  closely  connected  with  the  body,  —the  instincts, 
appetites,  and  passions.  It  is  not  innate.  It  is  not 
produced  by  nature,  nor  contrary  to  nature.  The 
soul  is  passive  to  external  influences.  Moral  virtue 


172  ESSAYS 

is  simply  habit.  It  is  impressed  by  examples,  by 
acts,  by  whatever  may  reach  the  mind  through  the 
senses  ;  and  the  impression  is  deepened  by  practice. 
If  the  tablet  of  the  child's  mind  is  not  strongly  in- 
scribed with  the  characters  of  moral  virtue,  vice  will 
write  possession  there.  Hence  the  circumstances 
under  which  children  are  brought  up  are  all-impor- 
tant, and  parents,  families,  and  states  are  responsible 
for  their  education  until  they  reach  the  years  of  ac- 
countability. Children  are  incomplete,  and  their 
virtue  is  referable,  not  to  themselves,  but  to  their 
guardians.  Adults  are  free  agents,  and  their  con- 
duct should  submit  to  the  control  of  reason. 

Intellectual  virtue  belongs  to  that  part  of  our  being 
which  is  farthest  removed  from  the  dominion  of  sense. 
It  relates  to  the  powers  of  thought  and  contempla- 
tion. The  intellect  is  the  noblest  thing  in  man  —  it 
resembles  the  divine.  Intellectual  virtue  is  not  a 
mere  habit,  like  moral  virtue,  but  it  "  has  its  origin 
and  increase  for  the  most  part  from  teaching"  and 
requires  time  and  experience  for  its  development. 
It  is  dependent  upon  the  cultivation  of  the  soul.  In- 
tellect grows  thriftily  only  out  of  a  moral  soil. 
Goodness  predisposes  to  right  reasoning.  The  object 
of  intellectual  virtue  is  the  discovery  of  truth,  and 
Aristotle  gives  it  as  the  distinguishing  mark  of  a 
good  or  moral  man,  that  "he  can  see  the  truth  in 
every  case,  since  he  is,  as  it  were,  the  rule  and 
measure  of  it."  This  is  a  re-statement  of  one  of 
Plato's  ideas. 


STUDIES    IN    THE    HISTORY    OF    EDUCATION          173 

The  exercise  of  the  virtues,  moral  and  intellectual, 
has  for  its  end  the  supreme  good  of  the  individual 
by  bringing  him  to  a  condition  of  almost  perfect  and 
constant  happiness  in  the  delightful  contemplation  of 
truth.  But  the  individual  does  not  exist  for  himself 
alone,  he  exists  for  the  state.  "  To  discover  the  good 
of  an  individual  is  satisfactory,  but  to  discover  that 
of  a  state  is  more  noble  and  divine."  In  Aristotle's 
system,  as  in  Plato's,  education  is  regarded  as  a  pub- 
lic duty.  "  No  one  ought  to  think  that  any  citizen 
belongs  to  him  in  particular,  but  to  the  state,  and  it 
is  the  natural  duty  of  each  part  to  regard  the  good  of 
the  whole."  Aristotle's  treatise  on  Politics  applies 
to  the  state  the  same  principles  that  his  Ethics  ap- 
plies to  men.  The  good  citizen  is  described  as  not 
essentially  different  from  the  virtuous  man.  Politics, 
which  is  the  greatest  of  sciences,  should  direct  the 
citizen  in  all  things  that  tend  to  a  correct  life  accord- 
ing to  a  fixed  ethical  rule.  "  It  is  evident  that  laws 
should  be  laid  down  for  education,  and  that  it  should 
be  public/'  The  laws  must  prescribe  such  regula- 
tions as  will  secure  in  the  young  those  habits  which 
confirm  moral  virtue,  and  predispose  the  mind,to  in- 
tellectual pursuits.  Further,  they  must  dictate  what 
individuals  shall  learn,  and  to  what  extent. 

Aristotle,  in  Greek  fashion,  lays  much  stress  upon 
the  literal  breeding  of  children,  the  advantages  of 
good  stock,  fortunate  birth,  and  careful  nurture.  He 
specifies  that  infants  ought  to  be  fed  with  abundance 
of  milk,  without  wine,  allowed  a  free  motion  of  the 


174  ESSAYS 

limbs,  and  inured,  very  early,  to  the  effects  of  cold. 
Nothing  should  be  taught  the  child,  not  even  neces- 
sary labor,  before  he  is  five  years  old,  lest  it  should 
prevent  his  growth.  He  must  exercise  freely,  how- 
ever, and  his  plays  may  be  imitations  of  what  he  is 
afterward  to  do  as  serious  work.  The  conflicts  of 
boys  are  not  to  be  forbidden,  since  the  "  struggles  of 
the  heart,  and  the  compression  of  the  spirits," 
which  they  produce,  develop  strength  in  a  peculiar 
manner. 

The  mental  training  of  children  requires  the  ut- 
most watchfulness  and  circumspection  on  the  part  of 
nurses,  parents,  and  teachers.  Aristotle  declares 
that  "it  does  not  make  a  slight,  but  an  important, 
nay,  rather,  the  whole  difference/'  whether  children 
are  brought  up  in  right  habits  or  not,  from  the  begin- 
ning. First  influences  are  most  important,  because 
"what  we  meet  with  first  pleases  best."  The  fables 
and  tales  told  in  the  nursery  should  be  of  a  proper 
sort.  Children  should  be  kept  from  the  company  of 
slaves  and  all  vulgar  or  vicious  persons.  They  must 
hear  no  indecent  language,  see  no  obscene  pictures 
or  statues,  or  be  tempted,  in  any  way,  to  violate  good 
morals  or  imitate  bad  mariners.  They  should  be 
guarded  and  tended  within  the  pale  of  the  family 
until  they  arrive  at  the  age  of  seven.  At  that  age 
the  first  period  of  regular  school  education  should 
begin,  to  continue  for  seven  years.  Another  and 
higher  course  of  education,  also  of  seven  years'  dura- 
tion, should  complement  the  training  of  boyhood, 


STUDIES    IN    THE    HISTORY    OF    EDUCATION          1/5 

and  complete  the  citizen  for  the  highest  duties  of 
life,  both  private  and  pubHc. 

The  eighth  book  of  Aristotle's  Politics,  evidently  a 
fragment,  treats  of  the  studies  suitable  to  the  period 
of  boyhood,  and  embraces  many  critical  remarks  on 
prevailing  usage  among  the  Greeks.  Lacedaemon  is 
especially  recommended  as  being  the  only  city  in 
which  education  receives  proper  attention  from  the 
state. 

Four  branches  are  named,  in  the  Politics,  as  com- 
prising the  matter  which  it  was  customary  to  teach 
children.  These  are  reading,  gymnastics,  music,  and 
painting.  The  utility  of  reading  is  taken  for  granted, 
not  only  for  its  own  sake,  but  also  as  a  means  of  ac- 
quiring other  sorts  of  learning.  The  gymnastic  ex- 
ercises of  boys,  Aristotle  thought,  should  be  very 
gentle,  as  violent  exercise  is  brutalizing,  and,  also, 
incompatible  with  study.  "  It  is  impossible/'  says 
our  philosopher,  "  for  the  mind  and  body  to  labor  at 
the  same  time,  as  $ach  labor  is  productive  of  con- 
trary evils  :  the  labor  of  the  body  preventing  the 
progress  of  the  mind,  and  the  mind  of  the  body." 
Painting  is  recommended  as  of  great  and  varied  use- 
fulness :  for  instance,  to  prevent  mistakes  in  buying 
pictures  or  vases.  It  should  be  learned,  moreover, 
not  merely  for  its  utility,  but  because  it  enables  one 
to  judge  of  the  beauty  of  the  human  form.  Some 
things  are  to  be  learned  simply  because  they  are 
noble  and  liberal;  for  "to  be  always  hunting  after 
the  profitable  ill  agrees  with  great  and  freeborn 


176  ESSAYS 

souls."  The  subject  of  music  is  discussed  at  consid- 
erable length,  and  the  conclusion  reached  is,  that 
children  should  be  taught  to  sing  and  play  music  of 
a  moral  and  elevating  character,  principally  as  a 
means  of  relaxation  and  amusement.  This  course 
•  of  study  seems  meagre,  and  it  is  probable  that  Aris- 
totle included  much  more  under  the  term  reading  than 
we  do. 

After  the  youth  shall  have  arrived  at  the  age  of 
fourteen,  three  years  may  be  specially  devoted  to 
severe  gymnastic  exercises.  This  will  leave  four 
more  years  for  the  completion  of  education.  Aris- 
totle gives  no  outline  of  the  course  to  be  pursued 
during  these  four  years,  but  it  is  safe  to  infer  that  he 
would  have  the  young  men  instructed  as  he  himself 
taught  them  at  the  Lyceum.  Indeed,  the  school  of 
Aristotle  may  be  regarded  as  a  sort  of  primitive  uni- 
versity, conducted  by  a  single  professor.  It  was  the 
Harvard  of  Athens,  where  the  Stagirite  read  a  con- 
tinuous series  of  lectures  to  any  and  all  who  were 
seeking  a  higher  education.  These  lectures  were 
upon  rhetoric,  logic,  metaphysics,  ethics,  politics, 
economics,  mathematics,  physics,  and  natural  history. 

Aristotle  must  have  exercised  a  powerful  influence 
upon  his  contemporaries,  and  especially  his  pupils. 
He  was  the  first  really  scientific  teacher  of  whom 
we  have  any  account.  His  learning  was  vast. 
Quintilian  refers  to  him  as  a  prodigy  of  erudition. 
He  gave  form  and  method  to  studies  before  shapeless 
and  confused.  Centuries  elapsed  without  adding 


STUDIES    IN    THE    HISTORY    OF    EDUCATION          I // 

anything  to  the  facts  he  left  in  natural  history,  and 
Agassiz  says  that  we  must  come  down  to  Linnaeus 
before  we  find  systematic  zoology  taken  up  where 
Aristotle  had  left  it.  His  system  of  logic,  according 
to  Grote,  "  was  not  only  of  extraordinary  value  in 
reference  to  the  processes  and  controversies  of  his 
time,  but,  also,  having  become  insensibly  worked 
into  the  minds  of  instructed  men,  has  contributed 
much  to  form  what  is  correct  in  the  habits  of  modern 
thinking."  Burke  declares,  that  of  all  Aristotle's 
writings,  only  the  treatise  on  natural  philosophy  is 
unworthy  of  him,  thus  giving  indirect  testimony  of 
the  sustained  and  varied  power  of  the  great  philoso- 
pher. Another  distinguished  voucher  for  Aristotle's 
worth,  and  that  to  the  modern  student,  is  the  late 
Dr.  Arnold,  who  stated  that  he  found  the  Politics 
of  great  and  direct  use  to  him  every  day  of  his  life, 
and  who  further  said  that  he  would  not  consent  to 
send  his  son  to  a  university  where  he  would  lose  the 
study  of  "dear  old  Tottle." 

A  just  estimate  of  Aristotle's  system  of  education 
cannot  be  made  unless  we  consider  to  what  classes 
the  system  is  intended  to  apply.  In  the  ideal  state, 
depicted  in  the  Politics,  the  citizens  are  to  be  as 
nearly  equal  as  possible,  and  they  are  all  to  be  edu- 
cated. The  citizens  are  to  be  served  by  slaves. 
Slavery  is  recognized  as  the  natural  condition  of  a 
portion  of  mankind.  From  the  hour  of  their  birth 
some  are  marked  out  as  slaves.  This  Aristotle  em- 
phasizes by  frequent  repetition.  The  slave  is  fated 


1/8  ESSAYS 

to  an  abject  life.  His  position  is  but  a  step  above 
that  of  the  lower  animals.  He  knows  that  there  is 
such  a  faculty  as  reason,  but  he  is  incapable  of  using 
it.  He  has  no  deliberative  faculty.  He  has  a  natu- 
ral need  of  a  master,  and  his  condition  of  servitude 
is  right  and  just.  The  instruction  which  he  is  to 
receive  is,  of  course,  that  of  a  menial,  and  is  very 
limited. 

And  how  about  women  ?  Are  they  to  be  educated  ? 
Aristotle's  views  are  briefly  these  :  The  female  of 
animals  is,  as  a  rule,  inferior  to  the  male.  Woman 
is  inferior  to  man,  and  in  some  respects  opposite. 
She  is  weaker  than  man  in  body  and  in  intellect. 
Man  should  exert  a  political  government  over  his 
wife.  His  duties  in  the  family  are  different  from 
hers.  It  is  his  business  to  rule,  hers  to  obey ;  his  to 
acquire  subsistence,  hers  to  take  care  of  it  ;  his  to 
deal  with  the  outside  world,  hers  to  order  the  house- 
hold within.  As  to  children,  it  is  no  more  the 
mothers'  duty  to  rear  them  than  the  fathers'  to  edu- 
cate them.  That  women  should  be  educated,  espe- 
cially for  the  duties  of  the  marriage  relation,  Aris- 
totle distinctly  affirms  ;  but  he  nowhere  describes 
the  manner  or  place  of  their  training.  We  may 
fairly  conclude  that  he  would  confine  their  education 
to  instruction  in  the  domestic  virtues,  according  to 
the  dictation  of  the  "man  of  the  house." 


STUDIES    IN    THE    HISTORY    OF    EDUCATION          179 
5.     QUINTILIAN. 

Mommsen,  the  best  authority  on  Roman  education, 
draws  a  vivid  contrast  between  the  Grecian  and  the 
Roman  character,  showing  the  former  eager  to  pro- 
mote individual  freedom,  .and  the  latter  resolute  to 
repress  it.  The  historian  says  that  the  Roman  judg- 
ment "  deemed  every  one  a  bad  citizen  who  wished 
to  be  different  from  his  fellows."  What  culture  was 
to  Athens,  law  was  to  Rome.  Hence  the  supremacy 
of  civil  power  in  Rome  ;  the  subordination  of  people 
to  potentate,  and  of  family  to  father.  The  Roman 
husband  was  absolute  monarch  over  wife  and  child, 
yet  wife  and  child  felt  no  degradation,  since  they 
regarded  their  subjection  as  inevitably  fixed  by  the 
just  ruling  of  the  gods.  How  rigid  the  fabric  of  old 
Roman  society  !  It  was  as  hard  and  inflexible  as  a 
suit  of  iron  mail. 

Rights,  duties,  obligations,  being  sharply  defined, 
—  the  purpose  of  life  being  clearly  recognized  as 
service  to  the  state  directed  by  law,  — education  must 
force  every  child  into  the  path  prescribed  for  him. 
The  training  of  Roman  youth,  in  early  times,  was 
the  shaping  of  Romans,  not  the  developing  of  men. 
The  Roman  must  fight  —  therefore  his  body  was 
inured  to  hardship.  His  physical  exercises  were 
useful  rather  than  graceful.  The  Roman  must  obey. 
The  oldest  Roman  school-book  was  the  "  Twelve 
Tables/'  the  code  of  laws.  This  was  committed  to 
memory  by  every  boy.  The  Roman  must  speak  in 


ISO  ESSAYS 

public.  Correct  and  forcible  delivery  was  taught  in 
every  school. 

There  is  no  series  of  events  in  history  more  inter- 
esting or  profitable  to  the  student  of  educational 
philosophy  than  that  embracing  the  intellectual  rela- 
tions of  Rome  with  Greece.  Every  youth  in  the 
high  school  knows  that  Greece  conquered  her  con- 
querors by  the  might  of  culture.  Who  can  resist 
fate  ?  The  Romans  at  first  feared  and  hated  Grecian 
ideas.  They  dreaded  education,  regarding  it  as  a 
"  disequalizer  "  of  men.  They  also  feared,  with  good 
reason,  the  corrupting  influence  of  luxurious  Athenian 
life.  Cato,  the  censor,  moved  in  the  Roman  Senate 
to  dismiss  certain  Greek  ambassadors,  who,  as  Milton 
quaintly  says,  "  tooke  occasion  to  give  the  City  a  tast 
of  their  Philosophy."  Cato  would  none  of  that 
dangerous  dynamite.  Yet  he  himself  was  induced 
to  study  Greek  in  his  old  age  ;  and  his  grandson 
spent  his  last  hours  reading  the  divine  Plato.  The 
Roman  conquerors  were  conquered  indeed.  Their 
very  slaves  became  their  rulers,  swaying  the  sceptre 
of  intellectual  power.  No  force  can  be  destroyed. 
The  wave  of  Roman  civilization  combined  with  that 
of  Grecian,  and  the  cumulated  billow  rolled  on. 

Each  nation  has  a  predominant  genius.  Each 
banks  its  capital,  sooner  or  later,  in  the  treasury  of 
the  world's  progress.  The  wealth  of  Rome  was  law 
and  order.  The  riches  of  Athens  was  culture. 
Modern  nations  draw  interest  on  the  two  vast 
funds  consolidated. 


*,          STUDIES    IN    THE    HISTORY    OF    EDUCATION  l8l 

Athens  elaborated  noble  systems  of  education. 
Socrates,  Plato,  Aristotle,  created  pedagogics  for 
Europe.  The  Roman  mind  could  not  improve  the 
theories  which  Grecian  philosophy  had  devised. 
Hence  there  are  no  eminent  Latin  authorities  on 
the  principles  of  education. 

Livius  Andronicus  translated  the  Odyssey  into 
Latin  207  B.C.,  and  this  was  used  as  a  text-book. 
Greek  schoolmasters  flocked  to  Rome.  Many  were 
purchased  as  private  tutors.  A  specially  elegant 
article  of  Athenian  pedagogue  brought  as  high  as 
two  hundred  thousand  sesterces,  or  about  ten  thou- 
sand dollars.  It  became  a  custom  for  Roman  youth 
to  go  to  distant  cities  to  pursue  special  studies,  as 
modern  American  students  go  to  London,  Paris,  or 
Berlin.  Rhodes  was  famous  for  her  schools  of 
rhetoric ;  Athens,  for  philosophy ;  Alexandria,  for 
science. 

Pliny  the  Younger,  in  a  somewhat  celebrated  letter 
to  Cornelius  Tacitus,  writes  :  "  Being  lately  at  Comum, 
the  place  of  my  nativity,  a  young  lad,  son  to  one  of 
my  neighbors,  made  me  a  visit.  I  asked  him  whether 
he  studied  rhetoric,  and  where  ?  He  told  me  he  did, 
and  at  Mediolanum.  And  why  not  here  ?  '  Because/ 
said  his  father,  who  came  with  him,  'we  have  no  pro- 
fessors."' Pliny  goes  on  to  say  how  he  argued  with 
the  boy's  father  and  others  to  persuade  them  to 
establish  a  home  college,  offering  to  pay  one-third  of 
the  cost  himself.  "Your  sons,"  he  says,  "will  by 
these  means  receive  their  education  where  they  re- 


1 82  ESSAYS 

ceived  their  birth,  and  be  accustomed  from  their 
infancy  to  inhabit  and  affect  their  native  soil.  You 
may  be  able  to  procure  professors  of  such  distin- 
guished abilities  that  the  neighboring  towns  shall  be 
glad  to  draw  their  learning  from  hence  ;  and  as  you 
now  send  your  children  to  foreigners  for  education, 
may  foreigners  in  their  turn  flock  hither  for  their 
instruction."  1 

The  so-called  "  seven  liberal  arts  "  of  antiquity  were 
grammar,  rhetoric,  philosophy,  arithmetic,  geometry, 
astronomy,  and  music.  These  became  the  established 
curriculum.  They  held  their  place  as  the  essentials 
of  a  finished  training  for  hundreds  of  years,  —  in 
fact,  through  the  Middle  Ages.  They  are  still  in- 
cluded as  organic  to  every  course  of  study. 

I  said  there  are  no  eminent  Latin  authorities  on 
the  principles  of  education.  Varro,  the  most  learned 
of  the  ancient  Romans,  a  correspondent  of  Cicero 
and  a  friend  of  Caesar,  wrote  treatises  on  education, 
but  they  are  lost.  'In  his  time  the  Greek  system  of 
schooling  prevailed  in  Italy.  Cicero  was  deeply 
interested  in  education,  and  wrote  on  the  subject. 
He  honors  the  teacher's  profession,  and  expressly 
says,  in  his  egotistic  way,  "  As  to  whatever  service  I 
have  performed,  if  I  have  performed  any  to  the  state, 
I  came  to  it  after  being  furnished  and  adorned  with 
knowledge  by  teachers  and  learning." 

The  man  who  embodied  the  principles  of  Roman- 
ized Grecian  education  in  language  was  not  born 

1  Melmoth's  Letters  of  Pliny. 


STUDIES    IN    THE    HISTORY    OF    EDUCATION  183 

until  more  than  eighty  years  after  Cicero  died. 
Thoughts  are  lived  before  they  are  written.  As 
Plato  came  after  Pericles,  so  Quintilian  came  after 
Augustus.  I  do  not  mean  to  put  Quintilian  on  a 
par  with  Plato.  Quintilian  is  the  best  exponent  we 
have  of  Roman  education.  He  is  not  a  great,  original 
philosopher,  but  an  excellent  summer-up  of  other 
men's  philosophy, — a  shrewd,  practical,  common- 
sense  man  of  much  learning  and  rare  powers  of 
expression.  He  was  a  clever,  communicative  Roman 
lawyer  and  teacher,  with  a  "  long  "  head,  a  good  heart, 
a  sharp  pen,  a  keen  wit,  and  a  commanding  social 
position. 

Quintilian  was  born  at  Caluguras  on  the  Ebro 
River,  about  40  A.D.,  some  eight  years  before  the 
birth  of  Juvenal.  He  removed  to  Rome,  where  he 
became  a  pleader,  and  afterwards  a  teacher  of  oratory. 
He  established  a  school  in  the  eigth  year  of  the  reign 
of  Domitian,  and  received  a  salary  of  $4,000  out  of 
the  public  treasury.  Moreover,  his  pupils,  many  of 
whom  were  distinguished,  must  have  paid  him  large 
fees,  for  he  amassed  property.  Juvenal,  in  one  of 
his  satires,  after  speaking  of  the  reluctance  of  fathers 
to  pay  for  their  sons'  education,  and  the  miserable 
condition  of  teachers  in  general,  asks,  "Where,  then, 
did  Quintilian  get  money  to  pay  for  so  many  estates  ? 
...  It  is  good  fortune  !  Yes  !  Quintilian  was  in- 
deed lucky,  but  he  is  a  greater  rarity  even  than  a 
white  crow."  Quintilian  spent  about  twenty  years 
in  teaching,  and  his  famous  work  on  the  "  Instruction 


184  ESSAYS 

of  an  Orator"  shows  on  every  page  evidence  of  the 
author's  experience.  The  treatise  is  not  a  fine-spun 
theory,  but  a  well-woven  record  of  actual  school- 
mastering.  The  book  is  saturated  with  the  life  of 
its  writer,  and  this  personal  element  makes  it  enter- 
taining to  this  day.  I  find  its  charm  to  hold  after 
a  second  and  a  third  perusal,  and  I  venture  to  tran- 
scribe a  few  of  the  passages  that  seem  worthy  of 
study  as  literature  and  as  pedagogical  science. 

While  engaged  in  the  composition  of  his  "  Insti- 
tutes," Quintilian  was  intrusted  with  the  education 
of  two  of  Domitian's  grand-nephews.  In  the  intro- 
duction to  the  sixth  book  he  laments  the  death  of 
his  wife  and  children.  He  says,  "  My  youngest  son 
dying  when  he  had  just  passed  his  fifth  year,  took 
from  me,  as  it  were,  the  sight  of  my  eyes.  .  .  .  Such 
a  child,  even  if  he  had  been  the  son  of  a  stranger, 
would  have  won  my  love.  It  was  the  will,  too,  of 
insidious  Fortune,  with  a  view  to  torture  me  the 
more  severely,  that  he  should  show  more  affection 
for  me  than  for  any  one  else  ;  that  he  should  prefer 
me  to  his  nurses,  to  his  grandfather  who  educated 
him,  and  to  all  such  as  gain  the  love  of  children  at 
that  age.  ...  I  then  rested  for  my  only  hope  and 
pleasure  on  my  younger  son,  my  little  Quintilian,  and 
he  might  have  sufficed  to  console  me,  for  he  did  not 
put  forth  merely  flowers,  like  the  other,  but,  having 
entered  his  tenth  year,  certain  well-formed  fruits.  I 
swear  by  my  own  sufferings,  by  the  sorrowful  testi- 
mony of  my  own  feelings,  by  his  own  shade,  the 


STUDIES    IN    THE    HISTORY    OF    EDUCATION          185 

deity  that  my  grief  worships,  that  I  discerned  in  him 
such  excellences  of  mind  that  the  dread  of  such  a 
thunder-stroke  might  have  been  felt  even  from  that 
cause,  as  it  has  been  generally  observed  that  preco- 
cious maturity  is  most  liable  to  early  death.  He  had, 
also,  every  adventitious  advantage,  agreeableness 
and  clearness  of  voice,  sweetness  of  tone,  and  a 
peculiar  facility  of  sounding  every  letter  in  either 
language,  as  if  he  had  been  born  to  speak  that  only. 
But  these  were  still  only  promising  appearances  ;  he 
had  greater  qualities, — fortitude,  resolution,  and 
strength, — to  resist  pain  and  fear;  for,  with  what 
courage,  with  what  admiration  on  the  part  of  his 
physicians,  did  he  endure  an  illness  of  eight  months  ! 
How  he  did  console  me  at  the  last !  How,  when  he 
was  losing  his  senses,  and  unable  to  recognize  me, 
did  he  fix  his  thoughts  in  delirium  only  on  learning." 1 

The  reader,  if  he  be  a  man  of  feeling,  will  not  get 
over  this  touching  passage  without  emotion  ;  to  me 
the  last  sentence  seems  pathetic,  in  a  way  of  which 
the  writer,  perhaps,  was  unconscious,  for  it  suggests 
the  probability  that  the  gentle  "  little  Quintilian  " 
may  have  been  educated  into  eternity.  The  hardest 
thing  for  an  ambitious  father,  or  an  enthusiastic 
preceptor,  is  to  forbear  urging  a  precocious  child. 

Quintilian  indorsed  Plato  in  the  belief  that  youth 
is  the  time  for  toil.  He  says  it  is  not  to  be  appre- 
hended that  boys  will  suffer  from  overwork,  bodily 

1  This  and  the  extracts  which  follow  are  taken  from  Watson's  literal  translation 
of  Quintilian's  Institutes. 


1 86  ESSAYS 

or  mental.  "  The  temper  of  boys  is  better  able  to 
bear  labor  than  that  of  men."  "  Yet  some  relaxation 
is  to  be  allowed  to  all  :  not  only  because  there  is 
nothing  that  can  bear  perpetual  labor,  but  because 
application  to  learning  depends  on  the  will,  which 
cannot  be  forced.  Boys,  accordingly,  when  reinvigor- 
ated  and  refreshed,  bring  more  sprightliness  to  their 
learning,  and  a  more  determined  spirit,  which  for  the 
most  part  spurns  compulsion.  Nor  will  play  in  boys 
displease  me  ;  it  is  also  a  sign  of  vivacity ;  and  I  can- 
not expect  that  he  who  is  dull  and  spiritless  will  be 
of  an  eager  disposition  in  his  studies,  when  he  is 
indifferent  even  to  that  excitement  which  is  natural 
to  his  age."  While  Quintilian  advocates  a  stalwart 
training,  and  scorns  "  that  delicacy  of  education 
which  we  call  fondness,  which  weakens  all  the  powers 
of  the  body  and  mind,"  he  strongly  objects  to  corporal 
punishment.  "  That  boys  should  suffer  corporal 
punishment,"  he  says,  "  though  it  be  a  received 
custom,  I  by  no  means  approve  ;  first,  because  it  is 
a  disgrace  and  a  punishment  for  slaves,  and  in  reality 
an  affront  ;  secondly,  because,  if  a  boy's  disposition 
be  so  abject  as  not  to  be  mended  by  reproof,  he  will 
be  hardened  even  to  stripes  ;  and,  lastly,  because  if 
one  who  regularly  exacts  his  tasks  be  with  him,  there 
will  not  be  the  least  need  of  any  such  chastisement." 
Our  Roman  schoolmaster  thinks  that  "no  part  of 
a  child's  life  should  be  exempt  from  tuition."  "  Let 
us  not  lose  even  the  earliest  period  of  life,  and  so 
much  the  less,  as  the  elements  of  learning  depend 


STUDIES    IN    THE    HISTORY    OF    EDUCATION          l8/ 

on  the  memory  alone."  "  The  chief  symptom  of 
ability  in  children  is  memory ;  the  next  is  imita- 
tion." 

Ouintilian  takes  a  very  encouraging  view  of  the 
educability  of  the  average  boy.  He  says  :  "  Let  the 
father,  as  soon  as  his  son  is  born,  conceive,  first  of 
all,  the  best  possible  hopes  of  him,  for  he  will  thus 
grow  the  more  solicitous  about  his  improvement 
from  the  very  beginning  ;  since  it  is  a  complaint 
without  foundation,  that  '  to  very  few  people  is 
granted  the  faculty  of  comprehending  what  is  im- 
parted to  them,  and  that  most,  through  dulness  of 
understanding,  lose  their  labor  and  their  time.'  For, 
on  the  contrary,  you  will  -find  the  greater  number  of 
men  both  ready  in  conceiving  and  quick  in  learning, 
since  such  quickness  is  natural  to  man  ;  and  as  birds 
are  born  to  fly,  horses  to  run,  and  wild  beasts  to 
show  fierceness,  so  to  us  peculiarly  belong  activity 
and  sagacity  of  understanding,  whence  the  origin  of 
the  mind  is  thought  to  be  from  Heaven.  But  dull 
and  unteachable  persons  are  no  more  produced  in 
the  course  of  nature  than  are  persons  marked  by 
monstrosity  and  deformity  ;  such  are  certainly  but 
few.  It  will  be  a  proof  of  this  assertion,  that,  among 
boys,  good  promise  is  shown  in  the  far  greater  num- 
ber ;  and,  if  it  passes  off  in  the  progress  of  time,  it 
is  manifest  that  it  was  not  natural  ability,  but  care, 
that  was  wanting.  But  one  surpasses  another,  you 
will  say,  in  ability.  I  grant  that  this  is  true  ;  but 
only  so  far  as  to  accomplish  more  or  less,  whereas 


l88  ESSAYS 

there  is  no  one  who  has  not  gained  something  by 
study." 

Discussing  the  relation  of  natural  ability  and  cul- 
ture, our  author  says  :  "  If  you  suppose  either  to  be 
independent  of  the  other,  nature  will  be  able  to  do 
much  without  learning ;  but  learning  will  be  of  no 
avail  without  the  assistance  of  nature.  But  if  they 
be  united  in  equal  parts,  I  shall  be  inclined  to  think 
that,  when  both  are  but  moderate,  the  influence  of 
nature  is  nevertheless  greater ;  but  finished  orators, 
I  consider,  owe  more  to  learning  than  to  nature. 
Thus  the  best  husbandman  cannot  improve  soil  of  no 
fertility,  while  from  fertile  ground  something  good 
will  be  produced  even  without  the  aid  of  the  husband- 
man ;  yet,  if  the  husbandman  bestows  his  labor  on 
rich  land,  he  will  produce  more  effect  than  the  good- 
ness of  the  soil  itself.  Had  Praxiteles  attempted  to 
hew  a  statue  out  of  a  mill-stone,  I  should  have  pre- 
ferred it  to  an  unhewn  block  of  Parian  marble ;  but 
if  that  statuary  had  fashioned  the  marble,  more  value 
would  have  accrued  to  it  from  his  own  workmanship 
than  was  in  the  marble  itself.  In  a  word,  nature  is 
the  material  for  learning,  —the  one  forms,  the  other 
is  formed.  Art  can  do  nothing  without  material ; 
material  has  its  own  nature  even  independent  of  art; 
but  perfection  of  art  is  of  more  consequence  than 
perfection  of  material." 

Quintilian  treats  the  important  subject  of  diversity 
of  natural  gifts  with  wonderful  discrimination  and 
clearness.  "Two  things,"  he  remarks,  "are  espe- 


STUDIES    IN    THE    HISTORY    OF    EDUCATION  189 

cially  to  be  avoided,  —  one  to  attempt  what  cannot 
be  accomplished,  and  the  other  to  divert  a  pupil  from 
what  he  does  well  to  something  else  for  which  he 
is  less  qualified."  Yet  he  believes  in  harmonious 
development,  and  does  not  think  "  that  any  good 
quality,  which  is  innate,  should  be  detracted,  but 
that  whatever  is  inactive  or  deficient  should  be 
invigorated  or  supplied. " 

Some  pungent  observations  are  made  on  precocity. 
"  That  precocious  sort  of  talent  scarcely  ever  comes 
to  good  fruit.  Such  are  those  who  do  little  things 
easily,  and,  impelled  by  impudence,  show  at  once  all 
they  can  accomplish  in  such  matters.  But  they 
succeed  only  in  what  is  ready  to  their  hand  ;  they 
string  words  together,  uttering  them  with  an  intrepid 
countenance,  not  in  the  least  discouraged  by  bashful- 
ness,  and  do  little,  but  do  it  readily.  There  is  no 
real  power  behind,  or  any  that  rests  on  deeply  fixed 
roots  ;  but  they  are  like  seeds  which  have  been  scat- 
tered on  the  surface  of  the  ground  and  shoot  up  pre- 
maturely, and  like  grass  that  resembles  corn,  and 
grows  yellow,  with  empty  ears,  before  the  time  of 
harvest.  Their  efforts  give  pleasure,  as  compared 
with  their  years  ;  but  their  progress  comes  to  a  stand, 
and  our  wonder  diminishes." 

Quintilian's  model  pupil  is  described  in  these 
words  :  "  Let  the  boy  be  given  to  me  whom  praise 
stimulates,  whom  honor  delights,  who  weeps  when 
he  is  unsuccessful.  His  powers  must  be  cultivated 
under  the  influence  of  ambition  ;  reproach  will  sting 


igo  ESSAYS 

him  to  .the  quick;  honor  will  invite  him,  and  in  such 
a  boy  I  shall  never  be  apprehensive  of  indifference." 

The  "  Institutes "  does  not  stop  with  the  por- 
traiture of  different  types  of  pupils ;  the  teacher  is 
also  painted  in  lively  colors.  Here  are  some  pas- 
sages of  keen  truth  ;  "  The  ablest  teacher  can  teach 
little  things  if  he  will  ;  first,  because  it  is  likely  that 
he  who  excels  others  has  gained  the  most  accurate 
knowledge  of  the  means  by  which  men  attain  excel- 
lence;  secondly,  because  method  [ratio],  which  with 
the  best  qualified  teachers,  is  always  plainest,  is  of 
great  efficacy  in  teaching  ;  and,  lastly,  because  no 
man  rises  to  such  a  height  in  greater  things  that 
lesser  fade  entirely  from  his  view.  ...  It  gener- 
ally happens  that  instructions  given  by  the  most 
learned  are  far  more  easy  to  be  understood  and 
more  perspicuous  than  those  of  others.  .  .  .  The 
less  able  a  teacher  is,  the  more  obscure  will  he  be. 
For  none  are  more  pernicious  than  those  who,  hav- 
ing gone  some  little  beyond  the  first  elements,  clothe 
themselves  in  a  mistaken  persuasion  of  their  own 
knowledge,  since  they  disdain  to  yield  to  those  who 
are  skilled  in  teaching." 

"  Above  all,  and  especially  for  boys,  a  dry  master 
is  to  be  avoided  not  less  than  a  dry  soil  for  plants 
that  are  still  tender.  Under  the  influence  of  such  a 
tutor  they  at  once  become  dwarfish,  —  looking,  as  it 
were,  toward  the  ground,  and  daring  to  aspire  to 
nothing  above  every-day  talk.  To  them  leanness  is 
in  the  place  of  health,  and  weakness  instead  of  judg- 


t 
STUDIES    IN    THE    HISTORY    OF    EDUCATION          IQI 

ment ;  and  while  they  think  it  sufficient  to  be  free 
from  fault,  they  fall  into  the  fault  of  being  free  from 
merit.  Let  not  even  maturity  itself,  therefore,  come 
too  fast  ;  let  not  the  malt  while  yet  in  the  vat 
become  mellow,  —  for  so  it  will  bear  years,  and 
improve  by  age/' 

Here  is  Quintilian's  outline  of  the  ideal  teacher  : 
"  Let  him  adopt,  above  all  things,  the  feelings  of  a 
parent  toward  his  pupils,  and  consider  that  he  suc- 
ceeds to  the  place  of  those  by  whom  they  were 
intrusted  to  him.  Let  him  neither  have  vices  in 
himself,  nor  tolerate  them  in  others.  Let  his  aus- 
terity be  not  too  stern,  nor  his  affability  too  easy; 
let  dislike  arise  from  the  one,  or  contempt  from  the 
other.  Let  him  discourse  freely  on  what  is  honor- 
able and  good,  for  the  oftener  he  admonishes  the 
more  seldom  will  he  have  to  chastise.  Let  him  not 
be  of  an  angry  temper,  and  yet  not  a  conniver  at 
what  ought  to  be  corrected.  Let  him  be  plain  in 
his  mode  of  teaching  and  patient  of  labor,  but  rather 
diligent  in  exacting  tasks  than  fond  of  giving  them 
of  excessive  length.  Let  him  reply  readily  to  those 
who  put  questions  to  him,  and  question  of  his  own 
accord  those  who  do  not.  In  commending  the  exer- 
cises of  his  pupils,  let  him  be  neither  niggardly  nor 
lavish  ;  for  the  one  quality  begets  dislike  of  labor, 
and  the  other  self-complacency.  In  amending  what 
requires  correction  let  him  not  be  harsh,  and  least 
of  all  not  reproachful  ;  for  that  very  circumstance, 
that  some  teacher's  blame  as  if  they  hated,  deters 


* 
ESSAYS 


many  young  men  from  their  proposed  course  of 
study.  Let  him  every  day  say  something,  and  even 
much,  which,  when  the  pupils  hear,  they  may  carry 
away  with  them,  —  for  though  he  may  point  out  to 
them,  in  their  course  of  reading,  plenty  of  examples 
for  their  imitation,  yet  the  living  voice,  as  it  is  called, 
feeds  the  mind  more  nutriment,  and  especially  the 
voice  of  the  teacher,  whom  his  pupils,  if  they  are  but 
rightly  instructed,  both  love  and  reverence.  How 
much  more  readily  we  imitate  those  whom  we  like, 
can  scarcely  be  expressed/' 

Quintilian's  directions  for  instructing  children  are 
full  and  minute.  As  memory  and  imitation  are  the 
faculties  first  developed,  the  talk  of  the  boy's  nurses 
must  be  on  proper  subjects,  and  correct  in  grammar. 
The  next  things  to  be  learned  after  the  nursery 
stories  are  the  fables  of  ^Esop.  Verses  from  the 
poets  should  be  committed  to  memory.  As  soon  as 
a  boy  has  learned  to  read  and  write  he  should  be 
instructed  by  the  grammarians,  —  that  is,  Greek  and 
Latin,  —  Greek  first.  This  instruction  includes  the 
art  of  speaking.  The  directions  for  teaching  ele- 
mentary grammar,  and  what  we  call  rhetoric  and 
composition,  are  practical,  suggestive,  and  luminous. 
I  know  of  nothing  better  of  their  kind  in  any  modern 
book.  The  suggestions  on  reading  are  most  excel- 
lent, and  as  applicable  now  as  in  ancient  times. 
"  For  my  part,"  says  our  author,  "  I  would  have  the 
best  authors  commenced  at  once,  and  read  always; 
but  I  would  choose  the  clearest  style  and  most  in- 


STUDIES    IN    THE    HISTORY    OF    EDUCATION  IQ3 

telligible."  "  It  has  been  an  excellent  custom  that 
reading  should  begin  with  Homer  and  Virgil,  al- 
though, to  understand  their  merits,  there  is  needed 
much  of  mature  judgment  ;  but  for  the  acquisition  of 
judgment  there  is  abundance  of  time,  for  they  will 
not  be  read  but  once."  "  Those  writings  should  be 
the  subjects  of  lectures  for  boys,  which  may  best 
nourish  the  mind  and  enlarge  the  thinking  powers; 
for  reading  other  books,  which  relate  merely  to  edu- 
cation, advanced  life  will  afford  sufficient  time." 
"The  love  of  letters  and  the  benefit  of  reading  are 
bounded,  not  by  the  time  spent  at  school,  but  by  the 
extent  of  life." 

Teachers  of  composition  may  find  a  useful  hint  in 
the  following  :  "  Let  that  age  [youth]  be  daring, 
invent  much,  and  delight  in  what  it  invents,  though 
it  be  often  not  sufficiently  severe  and  correct.  The 
remedy  for  exuberance  is  easy  ;  barrenness  is  incur- 
able by  any  labor.  That  temper  in  boys  will  afford 
me  little  hope  in  which  mental  effort  is  prematurely 
restrained  by  judgment.  I  like  what  is  produced  to 
be  extremely  copious,  profuse  even  beyond  the  limits 
of  propriety.  Years  will  greatly  reduce  superfluity  ; 
judgment  will  smooth  away  much  of  it  ;  something 
will  be  worn  off,  as  it  were,  if  there  be  but  metal 
from  which  something  may  be  hewn  and  polished 
off  ;  and  such  metal  there  will  be,  if  we  do  not  make 
the  plates  too  thin  at  first,  so  that  deep  cutting  may 
break  it."  In  another  place  we  find  this  very  true 
maxim  :  "  By  writing  quickly  we  are  not  brought  to 


194  ESSAYS 

write  well,  but  by  writing  well  we  are  brought  to 
write  quickly/' 

After  the  foundations  are  well  laid  in  reading, 
writing,  and  grammar,  the  education  is  built  up  on 
the  old  Greek  plan.  The  superstructure  consists  of 
music,  geometry,  astronomy,  philosophy,  eloquence. 
Quintilian  had  in  view  the  training  of  a  perfect 
orator,  as  Plato  had  that  of  a  perfect  philosopher. 
Both  conceived  an  ideal,  completely  accomplished 
man.  Plato's  mind,  however,  was  altogether  poetical, 
while  Quintilian's  was  altogether  practical.  Quin- 
tilian's finished  man  is  the  successful  man  of  the 
world,  but  Plato's  man  is  winged  for  other  worlds. 

The  "  Institutes  "  is  one  of  the  very  best  books  on 
pedagogy  that  was  ever  written,  and  I  do  not  see  how 
it  can  ever  be  altogether  superseded.  It  seizes  upon 
the  vital  and  the  permanent.  It  is  crammed  full  of 
sound  sense.  It  broaches  almost  every  important 
question  in  education.  I  could  excuse  the  average 
lecturer  on  "  Theory  and  Practice  "  for  stealing 
Quintilian  to  substitute  for  his  own  advanced  views. 
Where  will  we  find  better  methods  of  instruction 
than  those  given  in  the  old  treatise  ?  Where  finer 
bits  of  criticism  ?  Quintilian  actually  teaches  the 
art  of  literary  criticism.  His  comments  on  the 
principal  writers  of  antiquity  have  been  the  delight 
of  generations  of  scholars. 

It  would  be  a  service  to  the  teachers'  profession, 
and  to  the  reading  public,  if  some  competent  hand 
would  compile  a  little  volume  of  Quintiliana. 


STUDIES    IN    THE    HISTORY    OF    EDUCATION          IQ5 
6.    GOETHE    AS    AN    EDUCATIONAL    LIGHT. 

Goethe  was  only  twenty-eight  years  of  age,  when 
Jefferson  brought  to  Carpenter's  Hall  that  social  and 
political  document  which  announced  to  the  world  the 
independence  of  America  and  the  inalienable  rights 
of  individual  men.  We  may  say  that  the  powerful 
influence  of  Goethe  began  its  active  operation  in 
Germany  about  the  time  that  democracy  became 
an  actual  shaping  energy  in  the  New  World.  Both 
forces  worked  together  for  freedom,  humanity,  and 
culture.  Goethe's  influence  was  scarcely  felt  in 
England  or  America  until  after  1824,  the  year  in 
which  deep-discerning  Carlyle  translated  "  Wilhelm 
Meister"  into  English.  During  the  last  half  cen- 
tury the  luminous  message  of  Germany's  profound 
thinker  has  been  conveyed  throughout  all  civilized 
lands  ;  and  in  this  country  it  has  become,  if  not  pop- 
ular, at  least  known  and  appreciated  by  the  reading 
and  thinking  class.  Probably  such  books  as  "  Wil- 
helm Meister's  Apprenticeship  and  Travels"  will 
never  attract  the  multitude  ;  neither  will  Plato, 
Dante,  nor  Milton.  Nevertheless,  from  such  supreme 
sources  of  knowledge,  thought,  and  taste,  come  the 
ideas,  theoretic  and  practical,  which  fill  secondary 
books  and  finally  permeate  the  common  mind,  as 
from  mountain  lakes  issue  vital  springs  and  sparkling 
streams  that  flow  downward  to  irrigate  and  fertilize 
forest  and  field. 

Goethe  has  been  called  the  Apostle  of  Self-culture, 


ig6  ESSAYS 

Though  his  name  is  not  often  mentioned  among 
those  of  renowned  educational  reformers,  he  may  be 
ranked  high  in  the  first  class  of  teachers  of  man- 
kind ;  rather  a  former  than  a  reformer,  he  deals  with 
fundamentals, — grasps  the  great  first  principles  of 
life  and  culture,  and  indicates  the  wisest  modes  of 
activity  for  men  collectively  and  man  the  unit.  The 
lesson  of  his  life  is  most  stimulating ;  contact  with 
his  vigorous  mind,  even  through  the  medium  of  his 
books,  leads  to  hopeful  effort.  How  cheering,  how 
exhilarating,  how  strength-giving,  must  his  presence 
and  intimate  conversation  have  been  to  his  associ- 
ates. His  personality  surcharged  the  air.  One 
imagines  that  from  him  to  his  capable  disciple,  a 
liberal  education  might  flow  by  spiritual  induction. 
He  was  intensely  alive  physically  and  mentally  to 
every  external  impression,  and,  to  his  apprehension, 
everything  around,  above,  and  below  was  also  throb- 
bing with  life.  "His  education,"  says  one  biogra- 
pher, "  was  irregular ;  he  went  to  no  school,  and  his 
father  rather  stimulated  than  instructed  him."  Yet 
his  surroundings  were  favorable.  His  receptive  na- 
ture took  in  knowledge  from  all  sides.  He  began 
consciously  to  live  as  soon  as  he  began  to  grow. 
Teachers  in  schools  and  colleges  propose  to  fit  boys 
and  girls  for  living.  His  strong,  spontaneous,  and 
happy  being  did  not  separate  the  fitting  from  the 
living,  but  lived  the  fitting  and  fitted  the  living  from 
the  start  to  the  close  of  his  career.  The  motto  on 
which  he  constantly  dwells  in  his  great  work  is  this, 


STUDIES    IN    THE    HISTORY    OF    EDUCATION  IQ/ 

"  Think  on  living"     The  burden  of   his  song  is  in 
the  words  :  — 

"  Life's  no  resting,  but  a  moving  ; 
Let  thy  life  be  deed  on  deed !  " 

Sincerely  desiring  to  know  and  understand  nature 
and  mankind  in  all  their  aspects,  he  sought  and 
studied  languages,  literatures,  science,  art,  and  insti- 
tutions. Minerals  he  examined  in  mountain  and 
mine,  plants  wherever  they  grew ;  libraries  were  his 
workshops,  books  his  tools.  Goethe's  museum  con- 
tained all  the  Muses.  The  encyclopaedia  of  human 
nature  he  mastered  by  reading  its  speaking  volumes, 
—  men,  women,  and  children.  The  human  heart  was 
to  him  Bible  and  hymn-book.  The  world  was  his 
orange,  and  he  richly  enjoyed  the  nourishing  juice  of 
it.  So  great  a  brain  as  his,  so  richly  endowed  by 
nature,  and  so  amply  furnished  with  the  accumulated 
knowledge  of  the  past,  corrected  by  present  obser- 
vation, could  not  fail  to  give  out  value  to  other 
brains.  There  is  hardly  a  topic  within  the  wide 
range  of  pedagogical  science,  or  within  the  still 
wider  field  of  human  culture,  that  Goethe  has  not 
touched  somewhere  in  his  writings.  And  whenever 
he  touches  a  theme  of  this  character,  light  appears, 
as  when  a  conducting  medium  approaches  an  electri- 
fied body.  Light  and  heat  appear,  and  the  warm, 
luminous  shock  makes  an  impression  and  is  remem- 
bered. Commonplace  writers  say  many  true  things 
and  many  important  things,  but  say  things  in  an 
ordinary  and  unsurprising  way  ;  but  men  of  origi- 


IQ8  ESSAYS 

nality  and  special  force  utter  themselves  home  to  the 
heart  and  memory.  Goethe  does  this.  His  concep- 
tions are  striking,  his  images  novel,  his  expression  is 
large  and  suggestive.  Whatever  a  really  great  man 
says  on  any  subject  is  precious  ;  what  Goethe  said 
and  thought  about  education  deserves  our  reverent 
attention.  We  need  not  worship  him,  nor  adhere  to 
his  errors  ;  but  his  serious  opinions  demand  respect, 
because  he  was  a  lover  of  his  race,  because  he  strove 
to  discover  and  announce  the  truth,  and  because  he 
had  the  rare  gift  to  express  his  thought  in  artistic 
and  therefore  admirable  form. 

"  Wilhelm  Meister's  Apprenticeship  and  Travels," 
while  it  purports  to  be  merely  a  novel,  is  a  somewhat 
fantastic  treatise  in  poetic  prose  on  life  and  culture 
in  general ;  it  abounds  in  philosophical  speculations, 
criticisms  on  literature  and  art,  and  subtle  disquisi- 
tions concerning  the  innermost  meanings  of  things 
human  and  divine.  Like  the  enchanted  cask  in  the 
drama  of  Faust,  which  yielded  all  varieties  of  wine 
according  to  the  drinker's  taste,  and  even  spurted 
fire  into  daring  cups,  this  miraculous  vintage  of 
thought  and  imagination  furnishes  a  flagon  to  suit 
every  palate.  Here  is  geology  for  the  scientific,  art 
for  the  artistic,  literature  for  the  literary ;  here  are 
real  life  and  ideal  dreaming ;  here  are  men  and 
women  of  common  and  uncommon  types  ;  and  here, 
also,  are  allegorical  creations  of  merely  symbolic 
character. 

The  entire  work  may  be  regarded  as  an  attempt 


STUDIES    IN    THE    HISTORY    OF    EDUCATION       IQ9 

to  portray  the  processes  of  human  development,  and 
to  indicate  the  duty  of  the  individual  to  himself,  and 
his  relation  to  his  fellow-man,  and  to  the  divine 
power.  Meister's  apprenticeship  is  the  apprentice- 
ship or  preparation  for  a  no  less  serious  trade  than 
the  art  of  living.  The  conception  is  the  grandest 
with  which  human  thought  can  concern  itself.  Is  not 
education  the  supreme  science  of  life,  and  conduct 
its  application  ?  The  second  volume  of  the  book 
deals  directly  with  the  motives  and  processes  of  in- 
struction and  training  as  applied  to  youth,  which  we 
recognize  as  education  or  schooling.  The  author 
gives  a  picture  or  model  of  what  he  conceives  to  be 
the  best  general  mode  of  education.  In  a  prolonged 
episode  detailing  the  nurture,  instruction,  and  disci- 
pline of  little  Felix,  Wilhelm. Meister's  son,  we  are 
introduced  to  an  imaginary  province  of  vast  extent 
and  great  beauty,  which  Goethe  says  he  might  justly 
call  a  Pedagogic  Utopia.  The  description  of  this 
region,  its  institutions,  officers,  and  appliances  for 
the  development  of  boys  into  the  full  possession  of 
their  powers,  occupies  many  chapters  of  the  book, 
and  constitutes  a  most  admirable  discourse  on  the 
principles  and  practice  of  education.  Nothing  more 
charming  in  the  whole  range  of  pedagogical  litera- 
ture than  these  vivid  chapters,  unless  we  except 
the  somewhat  similar  and  equally  lofty  discussion  of 
the  same  subject  by  John  Milton  in  his  celebrated 
"  Tractate/'  depicting  an  ideal  academy,  or  in  the 
immortal  "  Republic  "  of  Plato.  It  may  be  remarked 


20O  ESSAYS 

that  both  Goethe  and  Milton  adopt  many  of  Plato's 
views ;  or  shall  we  rather  conclude  that  sublime 
minds  naturally  see  and  think  alike,  as  eagles  soar  in 
planes  of  nearly  the  same  altitude.  Goethe  attaches 
to  music  an  educational  importance  as  high  as  that 
which  the  great  Greek  philosopher  conceded  to  it. 
He  says,  "  Song  is  the  first  step  in  education  ;  all  the 
rest  are  connected  with  it  and  attained  by  means  of 
it."  In  the  exact  practice  of  musical  technic,  he  dis- 
covers not  only  a  general  harmonizing  of  the  facul- 
ties, but  a  preparation  for  the  precise  understanding 
and  use  of  arithmetic  and  other  mathematical  studies. 

In  Goethe's  scheme,  no  exercise,  bodily  or  mental, 
is  divorced  from  practical  ends,  no  energy  is  to  be 
wasted  in  abortive  pursuits  ;  all  learning  is  for  the 
sake  of  doing ;  all  theory  should  be  practicable. 
The  poet  was  himself  a  man  of  affairs,  honored  as 
well  for  executive  skill  in  business  as  for  literary 
genius.  The  power  which  created  Faust  could  also 
manage  a  theatre  or  transact  a  diplomatic  commis- 
sion. He  somewhere  says,  "  Practical  activity  and 
expertness  are  far  more  compatible  with  sufficient 
intellectual  culture  than  is  generally  supposed." 

A  leisurely  excursion  through  the  Pedagogical 
Province  would  certainly  prove  profitable,  but  to  en- 
joy such  journey  completely,  each  excursionist  will 
be  his  own  best  guide,  travelling  with  book  in  hand. 
With  Carlyle's  translation  as  staff,  I  have  wan- 
dered many  times  through  Goethe's  wonderful  edu- 
cational Utopia,  and  each  tour  has  revealed  new 


STUDIES    IN    THE    HISTORY    OF    EDUCATION       2OI 

objects  of  interest,  and  also,  it  must  be  confessed, 
new  mysteries.  Few  books  are  more  intricate  and 
puzzling,  and  at  the  same  time  more  fascinating. 
That  must  be  an  exceptional  mind  which  is  not 
lured  by  one  thing  or  another  in  this  book  ;  the 
man  who  understands  it  all  is  wiser  than  the  author 
claimed  to  be. 

Without  attempting  a  full  or  systematic  survey  of 
the  Pedagogical  Province,  I  shall  give  a  few  of  its 
leading  features,  or,  rather,  some  of  the  general  ideas 
which  governed  its  imaginary  denizens.  In  the  first 
place,  Goethe  believes  in  the  educability  of  human 
nature.  Culture,  though  it  cannot  create  capacity, 
can  develop  the  human  powers  to  an  unlimited  de- 
gree. The  main  business  of  life  is  an  active  training 
of  whatever  faculties  in  the  individual  respond  to  an 
external  or  an  internal  call.  The  universe  is  the 
soul's  necessity.  When  the  child  is  born,  he  is  in 
school,  and  his  training  is  begun  by  every  object  and 
influence  that  surround  him.  The  best  that  his  par- 
ents can  do,  is  to  provide  the  most  wholesome  and 
happy  circumstances  among  which  the  infant  may 
grow  and  enjoy.  Freedom  and  opportunity  are  the 
necessary  conditions  of  fortunate  development ;  vi- 
tality and  activity  are  what  the  developing  body  and 
soul  of  the  child  must  bring  to  his  own  aid.  It  is  a 
thought  of  the  French  writer  Joubert,  that  "  Man 
might  be  so  educated  that  all  his  prepossessions  would 
be  truths,  and  all  his  feelings  virtues."  Goethe  main- 
tains the  like  faith.  He  says,  "  Well-formed,  healthy 


2O2  ESSAYS 

children  bring  much  into  the  world  with  them.  Na- 
ture has  given  to  each  whatever  he  requires  for  time 
and  duration  ;  to  unfold  this  is  our  duty  ;  often  it  un- 
folds itself  better  of  its  own  accord."  And  again, 
"  Let  no  one  think  that  he  can  conquer  the  first  im- 
pressions of  youth.  If  he  has  grown  up  in  enviable 
freedom,  surrounded  with  beautiful  and  noble  objects, 
in  constant  intercourse  with  worthy  men  ;  if  his  mas- 
ters have  taught  him  what  he  needed  first  to  know, 
for  comprehending  more  easily  what  followed  ;  if  he 
has  never  learned  anything  which  he  requires  to  un- 
learn ;  if  his  first  operations  have  been  so  guided  that 
without  altering  any  of  his  habits  he  can  more  easily 
produce  what  is  excellent  in  future  ;  then  such  a  one 
will  lead  a  purer,  more  perfect  and  happier  life,  than 
another  man  who  has  wasted  the  force  of  his  youth 
in  opposition  and  error.  A  great  deal  is  said  and 
written  about  education  ;  yet  I  meet  with  very  few 
who  can  comprehend  and  transfer  to  practice  this 
simple  yet  vast  idea,  which  includes  within  itself  all 
others  connected  with  the  subject." 

The  passage  just  quoted  sounds  the  keynote  to 
Goethe's  symphony  of  education.  Freedom, — free- 
dom, —  freedom  !  action,  —  action,  —  action  !  these 
are  the  master-words  of  his  discourse  and  exhortation. 
Give  the  individual  elbow-room  and  breathing  space. 
Let  him  seek  and  find  the  learning  and  the  vocation 
which  God  designed  him  to  use.  First  of  all,  dis- 
cover if  possible  what  is  in  the  child,  what  nature 
suggests  concerning  his  proper  destiny,  what  he  can 


STUDIES    IN    THE    HISTORY    OF    EDUCATION       2O3 

probably  do,  what  are  his  potential  adaptations  to  life. 
He  cannot  be  everything  ;  he  must  be  one  thing, 
or  some  few  things  at  most.  Though  he  must  de- 
velop to  the  utmost  all  that  lies  germinal  within  him, 
and  become  a  symmetrical  and  perfect  man,  he  is  but 
one  man,  a  small  part  of  the  many  that  make  up 
society  and  produce  civilization.  In  Goethe's  lan- 
guage, "  It  is  all  men  that  make  up  mankind  ;  all 
powers  taken  together  that  make  up  the  world.  These 
are  frequently  at  variance ;  and,  as  they  endeavor  to 
destroy  each  other,  nature  holds  them  together,  and 
again  produces  them.  From  the  first  animal  ten- 
dency to  handicraft  attempts,  up  to  the  highest  prac- 
tising of  intellectual  art  ;  from  the  inarticulate  crow- 
ings  of  the  happy  infant,  up  to  the  polished  utterance, 
of  the  orator  and  singer ;  from  the  first  bickerings  of 
boys,  up  to  the  vast  equipments  by  which  countries 
are  conquered  and  retained ;  from  the  slightest  kind- 
liness and  the  most-  transitory  love,  to  the  fiercest 
passion  and  the  most  earnest  covenant ;  from  the 
merest  perception  of  sensible  presence,  up  to  the 
faintest  presentiments  and  hopes  of  the  remote  spir- 
itual future  ;  all  this,  and  much  more,  also,  lies  in 
man,  and  must  be  cultivated  :  yet  not  in  one,  but  in 
many.  Every  gift  is  valuable,  and  ought  to  be  un- 
folded. When  one  encourages  the  beautiful  alone, 
and  another  encourages  the  useful  alone,  it  takes 
them  both  to  form  a  man.  One  power  rules  another: 
none  can  cultivate  another  :  in  each  endowment,  and 
not  elsewhere,  lies  the  force  that  must  complete  it : 


204  ESSAYS 

this  many  people  do  not  understand,  who  yet  attempt 
to  teach  and  influence.  Let  us  merely  keep  a  clear 
and  steady  eye  on  what  is  in  ourselves  ;  on  what  en- 
dowments of  our  own  we  mean  to  cultivate  :  let  us 
be  just  to  others  ;  for  we  ourselves  are  only  to  be 
valued  in  so  far  as  we  can  value." 

Keeping  in  mind  the  clearly  distinguished  rela- 
tions of  man,  first  to  mankind  in  general  and  then 
to  himself,  we  can  understand  why  it  is  that  Goethe 
places  so  much  stress  upon  the  importance  of  dis- 
covering innate  capacity.  His  philosophy  would  not 
attempt  to  make  silk  purses  of  sows'  ears,  or  sows' 
ears  of  silk  purses  ;  would  not  expect  to  grow  thistles 
on  fig-trees,  or  figs  on  thistle-bushes ;  would  not 
promise  to  fit  every  man  for  all  positions  ;  or,  in  a 
word,  labor  to  frustrate  the  designs  of  nature,  or 
substitute  the  schoolmaster's  will  for  the  command 
of  Almighty  God,  written  in  the  book  of  the  child's 
manifest  idiosyncrasy.  The  teacher  should  endeavor 
not  to  make  his  pupil  over  according  to  a  precon- 
ceived model,  but  to  discover  what  pattern  the  divine 
Creator  has  outlined  for  the  guidance  of  human 
instruction.  "  For  to  uniform  we  are  altogether 
disinclined,"  says  the  overseer  of  the  pedagogical 
province ;  "uniform  conceals  the  character,  and,  more 
than  any  other  species  of  distortion,  withdraws  the 
peculiarities  of  children  from  the  eye  of  their  supe- 
riors." This  was  said  in  reference  to  dress,  but  the 
spirit  of  it  applies  to  any  external  that  may  tend  to 
obliterate  individuality.  Goethe  looks  with  horror 


STUDIES    IN    THE    HISTORY    OF    EDUCATION       2O5 

upon  the  fatal  mistake  of  disregarding  the  natural 
differences  in  men.  He  would  have  all  teachers 
dread  the  ever-present  possibility  that  their  pupils 
may  waste  effort  by  attempting  what  they  can 
never  hope  to  accomplish.  "  In  all  men/'  he  declares, 
"  there  is  a  certain  vague  desire  to  imitate  whatever 
is  presented  to  them  ;  and  such  desires  do  not  prove 
at  all  that  we  possess  the  force  within  us  necessary 
for  succeeding  in  these  enterprises.  Happy  they 
who  soon  detect  the  chasm  that  lies  between  their 
wishes  and  their  powers." 

Once  more  he  asks,  "What  mortal  in  the  world, 
if  without  inward  calling  he  take  up  a  trade,  an  art, 
or  any  mode  of  life,  will  not  feel  his  situation  miser- 
able ?  But  he  who  is  born  with  capacities  for  any 
undertaking,  finds  in  executing  this  the  fairest  por- 
tion of  his  being."  And  again,  "  Is  there  not  good 
hope  of  a  youth  who,  on  commencing  some  unsuit- 
able affair,  soon  discovers  its  unsuitableness,  and 
discontinues  his  exertions,  not  choosing  to  spend 
toil  and  time  on  what  never  can  be  of  any  value  ? " 
Further  still  I  quote  on  this  important  point,  "We 
should  guard  against  a  talent  which  we  cannot  hope 
to  practise  in  perfection.  Improve  it  as  we  may,  we 
shall  always,  in  the  end,  when  the  merit  of  the  mas- 
ter has  become  apparent  to  us,  painfully  lament  the 
loss  of  time  and  strength  devoted  to  such  botching." 
Does  not  the  truth  of  this  come  home  with  sad 
emphasis  to  many  a  disappointed  person  who  has 
squandered  time,  money,  health,  and  enthusiasm  in 


2O6  ESSAYS 

the  forlorn  attempt  to  cultivate  a  power  the  seeds  of 
which  nature  never  planted  deeply  in  his  being  ? 

Now,  since  children  know  not  their  own  powers, 
since  everything  seems  easy  to  them,  since  they 
readily  imitate  whatever  they  behold,  since  they 
are  liable  continually  to  mistake  wishes  for  capaci- 
ties, is  it  not  the  first  duty  of  the  teacher  to  dis- 
cover their  true  dispositions  and  tendencies,  to  set 
them  right  when  they  chance  to  go  wrong,  and  to 
keep  their  activity  exercised  in  lines  that  lead  to  the 
best  results  ?  The  parent  must  at  first  think  and 
judge  for  his  child  ;  the  teacher,  in  place  of  the 
parent,  must  assume  the  same  delicate  and  difficult 
responsibility.  To  blunder  at  the  beginning  of  the 
journey  is  to  wreck  the  possibilities  of  a  life  ;  there- 
fore the  science  of  sciences,  and  the  art  of  arts,  so 
far  as  education  is  concerned,  is  the  science  and  art 
of  approximating  to  the  correct  discovery  of  the 
promising  capacities  of  pupils.  The  teacher  needs 
to  differentiate  his  boys  and  girls.  They  may  all  be 
taught  from  the  same  books,  but  not  with  the  expec- 
tation that  all  will  make  the  same  use  of  the  same 
learning,  or  attain  the  same  ends  in  life.  Not  uni- 
formity but  diversity  will  result  from  an  education 
which  recognizes  unlikeness  in  the  very  nature  of 
minds.  The  pupil  who  is  so  fortunate  as  to  find  for 
himself,  or  to  have  discovered  for  him,  his  true  bent, 
and  who  sets  about  doing  that  which  there  is  good 
hope  he  can  do,  will  not  be  long  in  coming  to  a  full 
consciousness  that  he  is  on  the  right  track.  Every 


STUDIES    IN    THE    HISTORY    OF    EDUCATION       2O? 

instinct,  every  hunger  and  thirst  of  his  being,  will 
find  daily  gratification,  and  will  grow  by  what  it  feeds 
on.  The  student  who  is  making  progress  towards 
the  vocation  he  was  born  to  follow,  will  delight  even 
in  the  drudgery  of  his  necessary  task.  His  life's 
work  will  be  avocation  indeed,  —  a  calling,  —  a  joyous 
career  of  activity  to  which  the  inner  voice  invites 
him.  All  this  is  enforced,  over  and  over  again,  by 
the  author  of  "  Meister."  He  iterates  and  reiterates, 
"Every  capability,  however  slight,  is  born  with  us; 
there  is  no  vague,  general  capability  in  men.  It  is 
our  ambiguous,  dissipating  education  that  makes  men 
uncertain.  It  awakens  wishes  when  it  should  be 
animating  tendencies  ;  instead  of  forwarding  our  real 
capacities,  it  turns  our  efforts  towards  objects  which 
are  frequently  discordant  with  the  mind  that  aims  at 
them.  I  augur  better  of  a  child,  a  youth,  who  is 
wandering  astray  on  a  path  of  his  own,  than  of 
many  who  are  walking  aright  on  paths  which  are 
not  theirs.  If  the  former,  either  by  himself  or  by 
the  guidance  of  others,  ever  finds  the  right  path, 
that  is  to  say  the  path  that  suits  his  nature,  he  will 
never  leave  it ;  while  the  latter  are  in  danger  every 
moment  of  shaking  off  a  foreign  yoke,  and  abandon- 
ing themselves  to  unrestricted  license." 

Goethe  admits  that  it  is  extremely  difficult  to 
determine  the  child's  natural  bent,  and  therefore  dif- 
ficult to  select  the  course  of  culture  best  suited  for 
each  one's  development.  He  seems  to  recommend 
that  some  special  art  or  occupation  should  precede 


2O8  ESSAYS 

that  general  culture  which  belongs  to  the  completed 
man.  In  the  imaginary  Province  of  the  novel,  when 
Meister  presents  his  little  son  Felix  to  the  directors, 
he  asks  advice  thus,  " '  If  I  thought  of  sending  Felix 
for  a  while  into  one  of  these  circles,  which  would'st 
thou  recommend  to  me?'-  —  'It  is  all  one,'  replied 
Jarno ;  'you  cannot  readily  tell  which  way  a  child's 
capacity  particularly  points.  ...  In  all  things  to 
serve  from  the  lowest  station  up  is  necessary.  To 
restrict  yourself  to  a  trade  is  best ;  for  the  narrow 
mind,  whatever  he  attempts  is  still  a  trade  ;  for  the 
higher,  an  art ;  and  the  highest,  in  doing  one  thing, 
does  all ;  or,  to  speak  less  paradoxically,  in  the  one 
thing  which  he  does  rightly,  he  sees  the  likeness 
of  all  that  is  done  rightly.  Take  thy  Felix  through 
the  Province  :  let  the  directors  see  him  ;  they  will 
soon  judge  him,  and  dispose  of  him  to  the  best 
advantage.' '  In  another  place  we  find  this  more 
general  statement  :  "  In  order  to  accomplish  any- 
thing by  education,  we  must  first  become  acquainted 
with  the  pupil's  tendencies  and  wishes  ;  that  these 
once  ascertained,  he  ought  to  be  transported  to  a 
situation  where  he  may,  as  speedily  as  possible,  con- 
tent the  former  and  attain  the  latter;  and  so  if  he 
have  been  mistaken  he  may  still  in  time  perceive  his 
error ;  and  at  last,  having  found  what  suits  him,  may 
hold  the  faster  by  it,  may  the  more  diligently  fash- 
ion himself  according  to  it." 

The  reader  cannot  fail  to  observe  that    Goethe, 
though  he  places  upon  the  teacher  much  responsi- 


STUDIES    IN    THE    HISTORY    OF    EDUCATION       2OQ 

bility  in  aiding  the  child  to  discover  its  true  field 
of  activity,  does  not  conceive  it  possible  that  the 
teacher  should  think  and  act  for  the  learner  in  the 
vital  processes  of  education.  Human  culture  is  neces- 
sarily self-culture.  The  teacher  may  point  out  what 
to  do,  and  even  explain  how  to  do  it,  but  the  learner 
must  do  his  own  thinking  and  feeling.  One  can  no 
more  understand  or  enjoy  for  another,  than  he  can 
digest  or  sleep  for  him.  "  Each  man  has  his  own 
fortune  in  his  hands  ;  as  the  artist  has  a  piece  of 
rude  matter  which  he  is  to  fashion  to  a  certain  shape. 
But  the  art  of  living  rightly  is  like  all  arts ;  the  ca- 
pacity alone  is  born  with  us  ;  it  must  be  learned  and 
practised  with  incessant  care."  These  are  Goethe's 
words.  He  warns  all  earnest  souls  that  eternal  ac- 
tivity is  the  price  of  culture.  "  Nothing  upon  earth 
without  its  difficulties  !"  he  exclaims.  The  best  cul- 
ture is  attained  by  the  hardest  work  and  at  the  ex- 
pense of  much  time.  "  Steep  regions  cannot  be  sur- 
mounted," says  the  poet,  "save  by  winding  paths; 
on  the  plain,  straight  roads  conduct  from  place  to 
place." 

We  must  not  hastily  conclude  that  because  a  youth 
is  slow  in  manifesting  talent  or  genius,  he  is  desti- 
tute of  natural  ability.  "  He  in  whom  there  is  much 
to  be  developed  will  be  later  in  acquiring  true  per- 
ceptions of  himself  and  of  the  world.  There  are 
few  who  at  once  have  thought  and  the  capacity  of 
action.  Thought  expands,  but  lames :  action  ani- 
mates, but  narrows." 


2IO  ESSAYS 

The  several  passages  quoted  will  serve  to  bring 
out  in  sufficiently  strong  relief  two  or  three  of  the 
leading  principles  of  Goethe's  educational  doctrine. 
These  principles  are  exceedingly  suggestive  and 
fruitful ;  and  while  we  may  not  all  agree  with  all  the 
deductions  derivable  from  them,  they  undoubtedly 
contain  much  of  the  essence  of  eternal  truth.  He 
who  agrees  with  them  in  theory,  will  not  go  far  wrong 
in  practice,  and  he  who  raises  objections  to  them  will 
at  least  get  the  benefit  which  comes  from  high  think- 
ing ;  for  these  supreme  questions  cannot  be  intelli- 
gently and  candidly  discussed  without  advantage  to 
both  sides. 

PASSAGES  FROM  WILHELM  MEISTER. 

The  Superficial   Teacher. 

"  Wilhelm  signified  his  wish  that  Montan  would  impart  to  him  so 
much  as  was  required  for  the  primary  instruction  of  the  boy.  '  Give 
that  up,'  replied  Montan.  '  There  is  nothing  more  frightful  than  a 
teacher  who  knows  only  what  his  scholars  are  intended  to  know.  He 
who  means  to  teach  others,  may  indeed  often  suppress  the  best  of 
what  he  knows  ;  but  he  must  not  be  half-instructed.' " 

Where  to  find  Perfect    Teachers. 

"'Where  then  are  perfect  teachers  to  be  found?'  one  says. 
*  Where  the  thing  thou  art  wishing  to  learn  is  in  practice.'" 

Good   Work  takes   Time. 

"  *  Was  the  world  not  made  at  once,  then  ? '  said  Felix.  «  Hardly,' 
answered  Jarno;  'good  bread  needs  baking.'  " 

First  Steps  in   Teaching. 

"To  fix  a  child's  attention  on  what  is  present;  to  give  him  a 
description,  a  name,  is  the  best  thing  we  can  do  for  him.  He  will 
soon  enough  begin  to  inquire  after  causes," 


STUDIES    IN    THE    HISTORY    OF    EDUCATION  211 

Head  Versus  Hands. 

"  Drawing  was  not  hard  for  me  :  I  should  have  made  greater 
progress,  had  my  teacher  possessed  head  and  science  ;  he  had  only 
hands  and  practice." 

Conversation. 
11  What  you  do  not  speak  of,  you  will  seldom  accurately  think  of." 

Surmounting  Difficulties. 

"  We  look  upon  our  scholars  as  so  many  swimmers  who,  in  the 
element  which  threatened  to  swallow  them,  feel  with  astonishment 
that  they  are  lighter,  that  it  bears  and  carries  them  forward;  and  so 
it  is  with  everything  that  man  undertakes." 

^Esthetic  Culture. 

"Men  are  so  inclined  to  content  themselves  with  what  is  com- 
monest; the  spirit  and  the  senses  so  easily  grow  dead  to  the  impres- 
sions of  the  beautiful  and  perfect,  that  every  one  should  study  by  all 
methods  to  nourish  in  his  mind  the  faculty  of  feeling  these  things. 
For  no  man  can  bear  to  be  entirely  deprived  of  such  enjoyments  :  it  is 
only  because  they  are  not  used  to  taste  of  what  is  excellent,  that  the 
generality  of  people  take  delight  in  silly  and  insipid  things,  provided 
they  be  new.  For  this  reason,  one  ought,  every  day  at  least,  to  hear 
a  little  song,  read  a  good  poem,  or  see  a  fine  picture." 

Men's  Teachers. 

"  What   in   us   the  women  leave    uncultivated,  children    cultivate 
when  we  retain  them  near  us." 

Reverence. 

"  One  thing  there  is  which  no  child  brings  into  the  world  with 
him ;  and  yet  it  is  on  this  one  thing  that  all  depends  for  making  man, 
in  every  point,  a  man.  Reverence  !  Reverence  for  that  which  is 
above  us,  for  that  which  is  below  us,  and  for  that  which  is  around  us." 

How  to  regard  Others. 

16  When  we  take  people  merely  as  they  are,  we  make  them  worse ; 
when  we  treat  them  as  if  they  were  what  they  should  be,  we  improve 
hem  as  far  as  they  can  be  improved." 


212  ESSAYS 

The  Best. 

"  Words  are  good,  but  they  are  not  the  best.  The  best  is  not  to 
be  explained  by  words.  The  spirit  in  which  we  act  is  the  highest 
matter." 

Religion. 

"  I  look  upon  religion  as  a  kind  of  diet,  which  can  only  be  so 
when  I  make  a  constant  practice  of  it,  when,  throughout  the  whole 
twelve  months,  I  never  lose  it  out  of  sight." 


THE    UTILITY    OF    THE    IDEAL  213 


X 

THE   UTILITY   OF   THE   IDEAL1 

THE  subject  of  my  address  is  The  Utility  of  the 
Ideal.  I  employ  the  word  Utility  to  signify  some- 
thing more  than  mere  material  usefulness.  Manures 
upon  land  are  of  utility  ;  so  also  are  evanescent  tints 
upon  dissolving  clouds.  The  economic  maxims  of 
Poor  Richard  are  of  utility  ;  so  also  are  the  dreams 
and  reveries  of  Ik  Marvel.  Comprehensively  speak- 
ing, we  say  that  whatever  can  better  the  character  or 
condition  of  man  is  of  utility.  Whatever  can  ele- 
vate thought,  purify  taste,  awaken  aspiration,  or  wean 
the  faculties  from  low  and  unworthy  tendencies,  is 
of  incalculable  utility. 

"  And  yet,"  exclaims  Ruskin,  "  people  speak,  in 
this  working  age,  when  they  speak  from  their  hearts, 
as  if  houses  and  lands,  and  food  and  raiment,  were 
alone  useful,  and  as  if  sight,  thought,  and  admiration 
were  all  profitless  ;  so  that  men  insolently  call  them- 
selves utilitarians  who  would  turn,  if  they  had  their 
way,  themselves  and  their  race  into  vegetables;  men 
who  think,  so  far  as  such  men  can  be  said  to  think, 

1  Annual  Address  before  the  Ohio  Teachers'  Association  at  Columbus,  O.,  Wednes- 
day, July  6,  1870. 


214  ESSAYS 

that  the  meat  is  more  than  the  life,  and  the  raiment 
more  than  the  body;  who  look  to  the  earth  as  to  a 
stable,  and  to  its  fruit  as  to  fodder ;  vine-dressers  and 
husbandmen  who  love  the  corn  they  grind,  and  the 
grapes  they  crush,  better  than  the  gardens  of  the 
angels  upon  the  slopes  of  Eden  ;  hewers  of  wood  and 
drawers  of  water  who  think  that  the  wood  they  hew, 
and  the  water  they  draw,  are  better  than  the  pine 
forests  that  cover  the  mountains  like  the  shadow  of 
God,  and  than  the  great  rivers  that  move  like  his 
eternity." 

To  such  persons,  the  title  of  this  discourse,  The 
Utility  of  the  Ideal,  is  an  absurd  collocation  of  words. 
To  such  the  word  Utility  has  but  a  meagre  meaning, 
and  the  term  Ideal  is  but  empty  breath,  or,  at  most, 
but  a  convenient  negative,  signifying  the  utter  absence 
of  the  actual.  Such  do  not  recognize  the  Idealist  as 
a  rational  being.  They  deny  the  existence  of  the  vast 
invisible  world  of  which  he  speaks  and  sings.  Their 
experience  acquaints  them  only  with  things  tangible, 
visible,  sapid,  odorous.  They  are  cognizant  only  of 
forces  obvious  to  animal  perception.  They  believe,  as 
Emerson  humorously  states  it,  "that  mustard  bites  the 
tongue,  that  pepper  is  hot,  friction  matches  incendiary, 
revolvers  to  be  avoided,  and  suspenders  hold  up  panta- 
loons." With  Plato's  "earth-sprung"  Athenians, 
they  contend  "that  whatever  cannot  be  squeezed 
together  in  the  hands  is  wholly  nothing."  .They 
indorse  the  opinion  of  Dupaty,  of  the  French  As- 
sociation, who  declared  to  the  astronomer  La  Place, 


THE    UTILITY    OF    THE    IDEAL  215 

that  the  discovery  of  a  new  pudding  is  of  much  more 
importance  than  the  discovery  of  a  new  comet.  In 
gross  and  sensuous  scepticism,  they  hardly  stop 
short  of  the  Bosjesmen  of  South  Africa,  who,  when 
told  that  there  is  a  God,  incredulously  exclaim,  "  Show 
him  to  me  !  " 

Common  to  the  matter-of-fact  class  is  a  disposition 
to  divest  even  the  external  world  of  whatever  con- 
tributes to  sentiment  or  taste.  Not  satisfied  with 
contemning  the  adornments  of  art,  they  even  seem 
to  regard  nature's  exuberant  loveliness  as  useless 
superfluity.  Instead  of  rejoicing  in  the  all-pervading 
beauty  of  the  earth,  they  frown  upon  it  as  though  it 
were  a  chief  manifestation  of  God's  curse  upon  a 
disobedient  race.  They  would  make  anchorites  of 
the  sons  and  daughters  of  men.  In  the  name  of  all 
the  virtues,  they  would  clip  off  the  golden  edges  of  the 
summer  clouds,  change  the  many  hues  of  vegeta- 
tion to  a  uniform  blue-gray  or  butternut,  veto  the 
melodious  carols  of  the  birds,  plough  up  your  flower- 
bed and  sow  it  with  turnip-seed,  batter  the  orna- 
mental cornice  from  your  house,  pull  down  the 
pictures  from  your  wall,  cast  your  fashion  magazine 
into  the  fire,  and  coin  your  jewels  into  Federal  money. 

It  is  foolish  to  underrate  the  value  of  material 
good.  Property  is  power.  Houses  and  lands,  food 
and  raiment,  machinery  and  money,  are  excellent 
so  far  as  they  go,  and  they  go  far.  But  these  things 
take  care  of  themselves.  No  man  needs  arguments 
to  convince  him  of  the  utility  of  eligible  town-lots, 


2l6  ESSAYS 

paying  mines,  and  bank-stock  producing  big  divi- 
dends. All  admit  that  man  is  a  fine  animal,  the  finest, 
—  and  that  he  is  worthy  to  live  in  material  splendor, 
ease,  and  luxury.  He  must  lie  soft,  feed  rich,  dress 
royally.  But  is  not  man  something  more  and  better 
than  a  superb  animal  ?  more  and  better  than  vitalized 
earth  ?  Nay,  he  is  also  vitalized  Heaven.  He  has 
a  soul  in  his  body.  He  has  spiritual  faculties  as  well 
as  senses.  All  his  powers  and  susceptibilities  should 
be  recognized  and  nurtured.  Who  shall  presume  to 
set  aside  any  element  of  his  nature  as  useless,  evil, 
or  unworthy  of  care  ?  Dare  one  assert  that  any 
ingredient  that  God  has  put  into  the  human  constitu- 
tion is  misplaced  ?  Nay,  every  faculty  of  body  and 
soul  contributes  to  the  perfection  of  our  nature,  and 
demands  a  legitimate  sphere  of  action.  It  is  true 
that  faculties  may  be  abused  or  perverted,  but  that  is 
no  reason  why  they  should  be  suppressed,  or  why 
their  normal  function  should  be  denied. 

Ideality,  as  Tuckerman  truly  observes,  is  as  much 
a  heaven-implanted  faculty  as  conscientiousness. 
They  mistake  who  suppose  that  it  is  a  noxious  weed, 
springing  up  in  the  mind  to  the  injury  of  practical 
sense,  morality,  or  religion.  Divine  Wisdom  drops 
the  tender  seed  of  imagination  into  the  unconscious 
soul  of  the  infant.  The  morning  of  life  quickens  the 
seed,  and  it  becomes  an  early  flower,  indigenous  to 
childhood,  the  very  spring-beauty  of  that  auspicious 
season.  Children  imagine  as  naturally  as  they  laugh 
and  cry.  To  them  a  few  sticks  laid  around  the  stump 


THE    UTILITY    OF    THE    IDEAL 

of  a  tree  become  lofty  walls,  enclosing  noble  apart- 
ments ;  in  shapeless  blocks  and  broken  stones  they 
possess  elegant  furniture  ;  in  bits  of  shattered  crock- 
ery and  refuse  fragments  from  the  tin-shop  they 
behold  costly  sets  of  china  and  magnificent  silver 
service.  One  littla  girl  prattling  in  a  playhouse  by 
herself,  is  multiplied,  by  the  swift  arithmetic  of  her 
busy  fancy  into  a  parlorful  of  ladies  and  gentlemen, 
voluble  in  polite  conversation,  and  mindful  of  every 
courtesy  of  society.  Isn't  a  broomstick  a  veritable 
horse  to  little  Tommy  ?  and  isn't  Tommy  a  locomo- 
tive when  he  noisily  pulls  three  cigar-boxes  tied  to- 
gether in  a  row  along  the  gravel  walk,  puffing  as 
he  runs  ?  Does  not  Annie's  doll  understand  as  well 
as  anybody  ?  Is  there  not  a  crock  of  gold  at  the 
end  of  the  rainbow,  and  a  Santa  Claus  at  the  end  of 
the  year  ?  Do  not  the  birds  talk  and  the  winds  whis- 
per a  language  intelligible  to  the  children  ?  In  the 
clouds  they  see  cities,  and  armies  flying,  and  marvel- 
lous mountains ;  and  when  it  thunders,  the  mountains 
change  to  stormy  battlements,  and  the  armies  bom- 
bard the  cities,  and  set  them  afire  with  torches  of 
lightning.  To  them  in  other  mood,  the  awful  thun- 
der may  seem  the  voice  of  omnipotent  God  uttering 
unto  the  ends  of  the  earth,  I  AM,  I  AM.  Oh,  cred- 
ulous, creative  childhood  !  who  would  rob  it  of  its 
irradiant  atmosphere  of  imagination  ?  Who  would 
dispel  the  golden  and  roseate  clouds  that  flush  and 
float  along  its  marvellous  horizon  ?  Ideality  is  to  the 
child  the  very  perianth  of  his  young  existence,  as 


2l8  ESSAYS 

necessary  to  his  healthy  development  as  are  floral 
appendages  to  the  rudimentary  fruit  which  they  sur- 
round. In  due  time  the  petals  of  youthful  fancy  are 
scattered  by  the  wind  of  experience,  and  a  new  mode 
of  growth  begins.  But,  alas  for  the  fruit,  if  the 
flower  be  prematurely  removed  !  alas,  if  it  be  re- 
pressed ! 

"  There  was  a  time  when  meadow,  grove,  and  stream, 
The  earth,  and  every  common  sight, 

To  me  did  seem 
Apparelled  in  celestial  light, 
The  glory  and  the  freshness  of  a  dream." 

Soon  enough  come  the  years  that  compel  the  sad 
continuation  of  the  verse  :  — 

"  It  is  not  now  as  it  hath  been  of  yore ; 
Turn  wheresoe'er  I  may, 
By  night  or  day, 
The  things  which  I  have  seen,  I  now  can  see  no  more." 

It  is  the  spontaneous  act  of  the  child's  mind  to 
transmute  the  real  into  the  ideal.  The  radiance  of 
unobscured  faith  changes  common  earth  into  fairy- 
land for  the  young  and  innocent.  The  magical 
world  of  ideality  moves  along  with  the  child  as  a 
halo  moves  along  with  the  moon.  It  guards  the  new 
existence  from  worldly  harm  while  it  is  yet  too  weak 
to  guard  itself.  It  even  alleviates  pain  and  steals 
away  the  monotony  of  irksome  duty.  Did  you 
never  when  a  child,  engaged  in  some  disagreeable 
task,  banish  the  thought  of  present  weariness  by  call- 


THE    UTILITY    OF    THE    IDEAL  2IQ 

ing  the  wizard  Fancy  to  your  aid  ?  Did  you  never, 
while  drudging  over  some  repulsive  work,  fly  away 
in  glad  revery  to  wander  amidst  the  delights  of  Alad- 
din's palace  ?  What  sensitive  child  has  not,  when 
sick  or  lonely,  or  grieved  or  afraid,  found  comfort 
and  peace  by  summoning  a  host  of  imaginary  attend- 
ants to  sympathize  with  him,  and  perhaps  gently 
lead  him  out  of  himself  into  the  healing  paradise  of 
dreams  ?  There  was  a  lad  to  whom  the  anguish  of  a 
great  bereavement  would  have  proven  insupportable, 
had  it  not  been  for  a  comforting  belief,  dependent 
upon  an  excited  fancy,  —  the  belief  that  a  beloved 
sister,  though  gone  from  earth,  sometimes  played  for 
him  her  angel  harp,  so  that  he  could  hear  it  faintly 
sounding  —  oh,  how  faintly  !  —  in  far-off  mansions  of 
the  Blest. 

Charles  Dickens  has  written  more  frequently  and 
pathetically  than  any  other  author  in  behalf  of  chil- 
dren, and  their  divine  right  to  exercise  their  faculties 
in  a  natural  and  happy  way.  He  has  also  given  us 
many  graphic  pictures  of  the  stern  materialist  and 
the  unpoetic  worldling.  Perhaps  he  has  drawn  no 
character  of  this  kind  more  truly  representative  than 
that  of  Thomas  Gradgrind,  "the  man  of  facts  and 
calculations,"  whose  favorite  words  are,  "  Now,  what 
I  want,  is  facts.  Teach  these  boys  and  girls  nothing 
but  facts.  Facts  alone  are  needed  in  life.  Plant 
nothing  else;  root  out  everything  else.  You  can 
only  form  the  minds  of  reasoning  animals  upon  facts  ; 
nothing  else  will  be  of  any  service  to  them.  This  is 


22O  ESSAYS 

the  principle  upon  which  I  bring  up  my  own  chil- 
dren, and  it  is  the  principle  upon  which  I  bring 
up  these  children.  Stick  to  facts,  sir  !  "  You  who 
have  read  the  story  recollect  how  Thomas  Grad- 
grind's  model  son  and  daughter  lived  in  Stone 
Lodge,  and  had  a  little  conchological  cabinet,  and  a 
little  metallurgical  cabinet,  and  a  little  mineralogical 
cabinet,  with  the  specimens  all  labelled  and  arranged  ; 
and  how,  almost  as  soon  as  they  could  run,  they  had 
been  made  to  run  to  the  lecture  room  ;  how  they  had 
never  seen  a  face  in  the  moon,  nor  said,  - 

"  Twinkle,  twinkle,  little  star, 
How  I  wonder  what  you  are ; " 

for  they  were  never  permitted  to  wonder  anything. 
You  remember  how  the  children's  instinct  struggled 
against  a  training  at  once  rigorous,  austere,  and  re- 
pulsive ;  how  too  much  restraint  turned  their  bet- 
ter feelings  inward,  to  work  slow  destruction  upon 
the  character  ;  how  their  repressed  fancy  became  a 
maimed  and  distorted  faculty  ;  how  Louisa,  step  by 
step,  became  morbid  and  sullen,  then  desperate  and 
reckless ;  how  Tom,  the  father's  idol,  naturally  of 
noble  tendency,  grew,  by  degrees,  selfish  and  exact- 
ing, then  hypocritical  and  dishonest,  then  mean  and 
whelpish,  and  how  he  at  last  died  a  wretched  vaga- 
bond. 

Is  not  the  story  logical  and  wise  ?  Does  it  not 
afford  a  warning  that  many  a  mother  and  father, 
public  teacher,  and  gospel  minister  should  heed? 


THE    UTILITY    OF    THE    IDEAL  221 

Nay,  Thomas  Gradgrind,  not  facts  alone  should  oc- 
cupy the  growing  mind,  but  fancies  also,  as  nature 
imperatively  demands.  Not  realities  alone,  as  you 
define  realities,  but  ideals  too,  as  the  well-being  of 
the  soul  requires.  Man  is  not  a  calculating  machine, 
not  a  patent  memorizer  of  dead  facts,  not  a  passion- 
less, reasoning  animal ;  not  a  creature  of  few  and 
simple  capacities  easily  estimated  and  readily  supplied. 
His  spiritual  dimensions  cannot  be  taken  ;  his  powers 
and  needs  cannot  be  summed  up.  Above  the  plane 
of  ordinary  sensations  and  conceptions  lie  the  vast 
plateaus  of  thought  and  affection,  the  towering  sum- 
mits of  imagination,  the  fiery  craters  of  passion,  the 
snow-white  peaks  of  heavenward  aspiration.  Man  is 
the  centre  of  a  boundless  sphere  of  which  but  a  little 
inner  circle  is  to  him  actually  and  scientifically  known. 
Infinity  encompasses  him  round  about.  He  is  conscious 
of  a  mysterious  relationship  which  his  own  nature 
bears  to  a  whole  universe  of  material  and  non-material 
things.  His  faculties  strive  uneasily  towards  attract- 
ing forces  created  for  them.  By  and  by  they  grow 
stronger,  and  reach  toward  the  object  of  their  desire 
with  assured  confidence.  The  senses  are  not  happy 
until  they  know  how  to  observe,  and  are  furnished 
with  proper  objects.  The  memory  demands  material 
to  memorize.  The  reason  craves  subjects  upon  which 
to  exercise  its  peculiar  function.  Love  is  feeble 
without  a  beloved.  Taste  remains  latent  without 
the  beautiful  to  call  it  forth.  The  All-provident  has 
created  in  the  vast  storehouses  of  human  resource 


222  ESSAYS 

abundant  supplies  to  answer  every  possible  demand 
of  our  nature.  Perfect  human  culture  would  result 
from  the  adjustment  of  all  the  faculties  to  the  func- 
tions which  they  are  designed  to  perform.  In  other 
words,  right  education  finds  out  for  man  conditions 
in  which  he  can  obtain  suitable  exercise  for  every 
power  —  suitable  supply  for  every  innate  want.  If 
these  conditions  are  already  favorable,  man  will  not 
need  the  offices  of  the  educator.  Only  close  the  cir- 
cuit of  right  influences  around  him,  and,  like  the 
electro-magnet,  he  becomes  strong  by  a  species  of 
induction  that  no  man  can  explain. 

While  we  condemn  the  philosophy  of  Gradgrind, 
it  does  not  follow  that  we  adopt  its  extreme  opposite. 
The  child's  imagination,  though  it  should  be  recog- 
nized and  cherished,  needs  but  little  artificial  stimu- 
lation. Unless  impaired  by  hereditary  neglect,  or 
paralyzed  by  false  training,  or  enfeebled  by  baleful 
surroundings,  it  will  spring  into  activity,  provided  it 
is  only  set  free,  and  allowed  a  field  of  reasonable 
extent  in  which  to  range. 

There  is  in  our  day  no  good  excuse  for  permitting 
children  to  read  books  of  indifferent  quality.  Many 
most  excellent  juveniles  have  been  written  within 
the  decade.  The  highest  genius  in  the  world  has 
exercised  itself  in  behalf  of  the  children.  But  it  is 
with  books  as  with  money,  —  the  less  valuable  circulate 
to  the  exclusion  of  the  intrinsic  best. 

Among  the  commendable  things  undertaken  in 
busy  Boston,  is  the  establishment  of  a  commission 


THE    UTILITY    OF    THE    IDEAL  223 

of  cultivated  women  to  sit  in  judgment  upon  the 
merits  of  Sunday-school  and  other  juvenile  books. 
Every  volume  submitted  to  the  commission  for  exam- 
ination is  read  and  recommended  by  at  least  five 
critics,  before  it  is  approved  and  entered  upon  the 
catalogue  of  unexceptionable  publications.  It  is  to  be 
hoped  that  this  commission  and  others  like  it,  if  they 
should  be  formed,  will  make  a  thorough  winnowing 
of  the  chaff  from  the  wheat  in  children's  story-books. 
We  must  not  inconsiderately  reject  all  fictitious  ju- 
venile literature  because  much  of  it  is  worthless,  of 
even  worse.  I  would  not  deprive  children  of  fairy 
or  dwarf,  hunchback  or  magician,  Jack  the  Giant- 
killer,  or  Cinderella.  Mother  Goose,  unexpurgated, 
is  good  reading,  and  furnishes  an  excellent  founda- 
tion for  primary  education.  The  history  of  the 
Babes  in  the  Woods,  as  related  in  the  quaint  old 
ballad,  should  be  treasured  in  every  nursery.  How 
many  tears  have  moistened  the  page  which  records 
the  last  sleep  of  the  lonely  children  in  each  other's 
arms,  and  the  mournful  rite  of  the  sympathetic  robins  ! 
Such  tears  are  spring  rains  that  quicken  plants  of 
affection  to  bloom  and  bear  fruit  in  the  summer  of  ma- 
turer  years.  One  great  function  of  the  story-books  is 
to  touch  the  feelings  and  evoke  the  moral  sentiments  ; 
to  convey  ideas  of  justice  and  injustice,  reward  and 
retribution,  sacrifice  and  sufferance  of  wrong.  The 
sympathies  and  antipathies  are  aroused ;  the  young 
reader  measures  himself  by  an  ideal  standard ;  good 
motives  prevail,  and  character  grows.  The  crying 


224  ESSAYS 

part  in  many  of  the  old  nursery  ballads  is  the  valuable 
part.  This  fact  the  publishers  do  not  seem  to  appre- 
ciate; hence  we  have  so  many  mutilated  editions  of 
standard  story-books.  The  prevailing  custom  is  to 
leave  out,  or  at  least  greatly  to  soften  down,  the  tragi- 
cal portion  of  the  stories,  in  the  mistaken  belief  that 
nothing  painful  should  be  presented  to  the  mind  of 
the  little  reader.  There  is  a  version  of  the  pathetic 
ballad  just  alluded  to  which,  instead  of  terminating 
with  the  death  of  the  wandering  babes,  represents 
'them  as  only  sleeping  one  night  in  the  forest,  to  be 
discovered  next  day  and  carried  in  triumph  to  the 
palace  of  their  inheritance.  There  is  a  rehash  of  the 
romance  of  Red  Riding  Hood,  according  to  which 
the  little  maid  did  not  go  down  the  wolfs  throat  at 
all,  after  the  last  fearful  exclamation,  "  O  grand- 
mother, what  great  teeth  you  have  !  "  Instead  of  eat- 
ing Red  Riding  Hood,  the  wolf  is  killed  by  a  valiant 
wood-cutter,  and  the  child  is  rescued  without  a  scratch. 
This  is  as  bad  as  bringing  Romeo  and  Juliet  to  life 
after  the  scene  in  the  Capulets'  tomb,  or  restoring 
the  king  to  reason  and  Cordelia  to  life  in  the  tragedy 
of  Lear. 

We  can  ill  spare  from  the  armory  of  educational 
instruments  such  compositions,  fictitious  or  true,  as 
serve  to  fire  young  people  with  noble  enthusiasm  and 
heroic  ambition  ;  or  which  cultivate  in  them  a  delicate 
sense  of  poetic  justice.  The  romantic  ballad,  the 
trenchant  fable,  the  florid  allegory,  the  thrilling  nar- 
rative of  imaginary  brave  adventure,  are  all  service- 
able allies  of  the  prudent  parent  or  instructor. 


THE    UTILITY    OF    THE    IDEAL  225 

When  we  emerge  from  the  enchanted  wonderland 
of  youth  into  the  more  sober  region  of  adult  years, 
the  imagination  changes  somewhat  in  character,  and 
we  naturally  seek  a  different  method  of  gratifying  it. 
Reason  and  experience,  passion  and  sentiment,  mod- 
ify our  ideal  conceptions.  Fancy  is  restrained.  We 
begin  to  judge  fiction  and  poetry  by  a  standard  of 
taste  and  propriety.  In  short,  the  lordly  faculty, 
imagination,  which  before  was  our  ruler  and  master, 
is  now  itself  subject  to  cultivation,  and  made  subser- 
vient to  the  will.  Still  it  continues,  as  it  was,  a  pur- 
veyor of  profit  and  pleasure  to  the  soul,  and  a  magic 
shield  between  its  possessor  and  much  that  is  offen- 
sive in  life.  At  maturity  we  minister  to  the  ideal 
faculty  in  many  ways,  but  chiefly  by  means  of  fiction, 
poetry,  and  the  other  aesthetic  arts,  appealing  to  the 
imagination. 

The  time  is  not  yet  passed  in  which  the  novel  is 
occasionally  arraigned  before  the  tribunals  more  or 
less  representative  of  popular  opinion,  to  answer  for 
its  moral  character  and  its  influence  upon  the  mind. 
Many  witnesses  have  from  time  to  time  given  testimony 
concerning  it.  Rousseau  said  that  romances  induced 
in  him  fantastic  and  false  notions  of  life,  whereof  he 
was  never  entirely  cured  by  experience  and  reflec- 
tion. Samuel  Johnson  minutely  depicts  the  perni- 
cious effects  of  indulgence  in  revery,  and  shows  how 
"by  degrees  the  reign  of  fancy  is  confirmed;  how 
she  first  grows  imperious,  and  in  time  despotic. 
Then  fictions  begin  to  operate  as  realities,  false  opin- 


226  ESSAYS 

ions  fasten  upon  the  mind,  and  life  passes  in  dreams 
of  rapture  or  anguish."  Multitudes  of  writers  of  less 
note  than  Johnson  have  asserted  that  the  habit  of 
reading  fiction  unfits  the  mind  for  severe  application, 
and  destroys  a  healthy  interest  in  the  practical  affairs 
of  life.  The  novel  has  not  unfrequently  been  de- 
nounced from  the  pulpit  as  an  unmitigated  evil, 
inflaming  the  passions  and  tending  to  confound  all 
moral  distinctions.  On  the  other  hand,  there  are 
not  wanting  weighty  authorities  in  favor  of  fiction. 
Hazlitt  declares  that  "  there  are  few  books  to  which 
he  is  oftener  tempted  to  turn  for  profit  and  delight 
than  the  standard  novels.  We  find  in  them,"  he 
says,  "a  close  imitation  of  men  and  manners;  we  see 
the  very  web  and  texture  of  society  as  it  really  exists, 
and  as  we  meet  it  as  we  come  into  this  world.  We 
are  brought  acquainted  with  the  motives  and  charac- 
ters of  mankind,  imbibe  our  notions  of  virtue  and 
vice  from  practical  examples,  and  are  taught  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  world  through  the  airy  medium  of 
romance." 

The  novelist  has  not  only  to  study  the  manners  of 
men,  and  the  construction  and  visible  operations  of 
society,  but  also  to  discern  the  laws  of  mind,  and  to 
describe  the  sources  and  consequences  of  human 
actions.  He  illustrates  the  possibilities  of  life  by 
supposing  persons  of  various  character  influenced  by 
various  situations  and  conditions.  He  depicts  the 
power  and  operation  of  the  passions.  He  exhibits 
in  striking  contrast  the  different  states  of  humanity. 


THE    UTILITY    OF    THE    IDEAL  22/ 

He  portrays  the  struggles  of  pride  and  duty,  the 
triumph  of  virtue  and  heroism,  the  deformity  of  crime, 
the  omnipotence  of  love.  To  create  such  a  work  as 
"  Don  Quixote,"  "  Tom  Jones,"  "Ivanhoe,"  "David 
Copperfield,"  or  "  The  Newcombs,"  is  no  easy  or 
frivolous  task.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  a  labor  which 
calls  for  an  intimate  knowledge  of  human  nature, 
clear  judgment,  and  continued  application,  to  say 
nothing  of  the  wonderful  inventive  faculty  upon 
which,  more  than  upon  all  the  rest,  it  depends.  The 
plot  of  a  good  novel  must  accord  with  the  possibili- 
ties of  things.  Like  a  perfect  landscape  painting,  the 
novel  must  truly  represent  reality,  though  no  part 
of  it  need  be  directly  copied  from  nature. 

There  are  many  very  excellent  people  who  cannot 
get  rid  of  conscientious  scruples  against  reading  a 
novel,  so  long  as  there  is  a  history  or  a  biography  to 
be  had,  not  conceiving  that  a  true  record  of  thought 
and  sentiment  may  be  as  valuable  as  a  record  of  word 
and  deed.  They  do  not  see,  for  example,  how  Char- 
lotte Bronte's  "  Jane  Eyre"  can  be  a  better  book  and 
a  truer  biography  than  Mrs.  Gaskell's  "  Life  of  Char- 
lotte Bronte,"  as  it  certainly  is. 

Fielding  wittily  said,  in  a  satirical  comparison  of 
his  novels  with  the  works  of  professed  historians, 
that,  in  their  productions,  nothing  was  true  but  names 
and  dates,  while  in  his  everything  was  true  except 
the  names  and  dates. 

Charles  Reade  boldly  claims  that  fiction,  "  what- 
ever you  may  have  heard  to  the  contrary,  is  the 


228  ESSAYS 

highest,  widest,  noblest,  and  greatest  of  all  the  arts ;  " 
that  it  "studies,  penetrates,  digests,  the  hard  facts  of 
chronicles  and  blue  books,  and  makes  their  dry  bone^ 
live." 

By  their  fruits  shall  ye  know  men  and  books.  That 
is  the  truest  and  most  valuable  book  which  most 
benefits  the  character  and  enlarges  the  mind  of  the 
reader.  Precious  is  that  reading  which  opens  the 
heart  to  humane  influences,  which  widens  our  sym- 
pathies for  our  fellow-creatures,  which,  by  presenting 
lovable  ideals,  increases  our  reverence  for  human 
nature  and  our  belief  in  its  perfectibility.  Precious 
also  is  that  reading  which  contributes  to  innocent 
amusement ;  for  cheerfulness  disposes  to  goodness, 
and  a  hearty  laugh  is  the  best  gymnastics  for  both 
body  and  soul.  Let  us  be  grateful  for  the  profit,  the 
pleasure,  the  inspiration,  which  we  derive  from  the 
works  of  great  novelists.  Among  the  literary  bene- 
factors of  mankind,  while  we  number  famous  philoso- 
phers and  historians  and  essayists  and  bards,  may 
we  not  forget  to  include  the  celebrated  authors  of 
fiction,  —  Cervantes  and  Richardson  and  Fielding 
and  Scott  and  Thackeray,  and  above  all — the  great- 
est novelist  that  ever  lived  and  died,  whose  name  is 
in  your  warm  hearts  before  my  lips  pronounce  it  — 
Charles  Dickens. 

The  objection  to  the  novel  on  moral  grounds  is 
seldom  urged  in  the  present  day,  since  clergymen  and 
other  public  teachers,  avowedly  the  champions  of 
virtue  and  religion,  have  taken  to  the  invention  of 


THE    UTILITY    OF    THE    IDEAL  22Q 

stories  as  a  direct  means  of  Christian  instruction,  and 
the  religious  novel  finds  a  place  on  the  centre-table 
of  the  strictest  deacon. 

The  conveyance  of  moral  precepts  or  of  practical 
information  is  not  a  necessary  object  of  fiction.  The 
so-called  "  novel  with  a  purpose  "  is  generally  a  fail- 
ure. The  novel  proper  is  not  a  didactic  treatise  under 
an  assumed  name,  nor  a  sermon  travelling  incognito, 
nor  a  new  philosophy  sugar-coated.  The  novel  is  a 
work  of  art,  as  a  poem  or  a  statue  is.  It  is  enough  if 
it  be  true  to  itself.  Its  unity  explains  its  purpose  ; 
its  consistency  vindicates  its  character. 

The  literary  creator  hears  the  question,  "  What  do 
you  mean  ?  "  with  a  feeling  of  humiliation.  If  he  has 
succeeded  in  producing  what  he  aimed  at,  a  work  of 
art,  that  work  is  self-explanatory  to  all  who  can  ap- 
preciate it ;  to  those  who  cannot,  no  amount  of  ex- 
planation will  prove  satisfactory.  What  does  any 
work  of  fine  art  mean  ?  It  means  simply  approach 
toward  the  realization  of  an  ideal.  Is  there  not  sat- 
isfaction in  the  mere  contemplation  of  a  harmonious, 
consistent  plan  ?  —  skilful  development  of  supposed 
events?  —  lively  and  accurate  representation  of  char- 
acter and  manners  ?  —  felicity  of  expression  ?  "  Eat 
thou  honey  because  it  is  good,"  is  the  counsel  of 
Solomon.  There  is  an  aesthetic  taste  !  Its  honey 
is  the  artistic,  the  well-related,  the  beautiful,  the 
ideally  true.  If  Lord  Brougham  makes  the  pleasure 
of  the  mind  a  sufficient  motive  for  the  study  of  phi- 
losophy, if  Sir  John  Herschel  is  indignant  when 


23O  ESSAYS 

asked  "  whither  his  researches  tend,"  and  feels  that 
there  is  a  lofty  and  disinterested  pleasure  in  his 
speculations  that  ought  to  exempt  him  from  such 
questionings,  how  shall  the  literary  artist  humiliate 
himself  to  explain  the  value  of  his  productions  ?  The 
true  work  of  art  has  its  practical  uses.  It  signifies 
many  things  to  many  minds.  Each  reader  may  in- 
terpret Faust  and  Hamlet  as  he  can,  but  Goethe  and 
Shakespeare  only  create. 

"  Say  to  what  uses  shall  we  put 

The  wildwood  flower  that  merely  blows, 
Or  is  there  any  moral  shut 

Within  the  bosom  of  the  rose  ? 
But  any  man  that  walks  the  mead, 

In  bud,  or  blade,  or  bloom,  may  find, 
According  as  his  humors  lead, 

A  meaning  suited  to  his  mind  ; 
And  liberal  applications  lie 

In  art,  like  nature,  dearest  friend ; 
So  'twere  to  cramp  its  use,  if  I 

Should  hook  it  to  some  useful  end." 

Leaving  the  realm  of  prose  fiction,  we  find  the 
next  manifestation  of  ideality  in  the  field  of  poetry. 
Here  imagination  takes  her  noblest  flights,  and  fancy 
roams  at  will.  The  grossest  air  of  poesy  is  ether  ; 
her  eye  is  microscopic,  and  her  ear  catches  the 
sound  of  flowers  blossoming.  She  breathes  the 
odors  wafted  from  Paradise,  and  feeds  on  dews  im- 
palpable, shed  from  unseen  skies,  spanning  the  mys- 
tic land  of  dreams  !  Vex  not  the  bard  with  questions 
pf  time  and  sense.  He  dwells  in  spirit  and  in  eter- 


THE    UTILITY    OF    THE    IDEAL  23! 

nity.  Commiserate  him  not,  though  he  seem  poor 
and  lowly.  The  poet  is  forever  blest.  He  loves  all 
things.  His  is  the  joy  and  peace  of  infinite  hope  and 
faith.  Surround  him  with  poverty  and  squalor  and 
sin  and  woe,  he  will  discover  in  the  vilest  face  some 
angelic  lineament,  and  in  the  saddest  spot  some  ray 
of  consoling  beauty.  Put  him  in  dungeon  depths, 
yet  will  his  starry  thoughts  light  up  the  gloom,  trans- 
forming it  to  glory.  Poeta,  maker  —  he  is  like  a 
god.  Out  of  the  void  he  creates  immortal  forms. 

"  The  poet's  eye  in  a  fine  frenzy  rolling, 
Doth  glance  from  heaven  to  earth,  from  earth  to  heaven; 
And  as  imagination  bodies  forth 
The  forms  of  things  unknown,  the  poet's  pen 
Turns  them  to  shapes,  and  gives  to  airy  nothing 
A  local  habitation  and  a  name." 

The  Utility  of  the  Ideal !  How  the  glowing  theme 
expands  as  we  strive  to  compass  it !  In  every  high 
department  of  human  cultivation  it  is  apparent. 
Proud,  calm  science,  poised  in  an  atmosphere  of 
actual  phenomena,  is  often  borne  to  loftier  heights 
than  reason  kens,  on  the  daring  wings  of  imagina- 
tion, as  the  discoveries  of  Kepler  prove.  Max  M  tiller 
declares  that  "  the  torch  of  imagination  is  as  •  ne- 
cessary to  him  who  looks  for  truth,  as  the  lamp  of 
study ; "  and  Sir  David  Brewster  admits  "  that,  as  an 
instrument  of  research,  the  influence  of  imagination 
has  been  much  overlooked  by  those  who  have  ven- 
tured to  give  laws  to  philosophy."  And  a  great  ex- 
ponent of  modern  science  says  that  "  Bounded  and 


232  ESSAYS 

conditioned  by  co-operant  reason,  imagination  be- 
comes the  mightiest  instrument  of  the  physical  dis- 
coverer. '  Newton's  passage  from  a  falling  apple  to 
a  falling  moon  was  a  leap  of  the  imagination.  When 
Sir  William  Thomson  tries  to  place  the  ultimate 
particles  of  matter  between  his  compass  points,  and 
to  apply  them  to  a  scale  of  millimetres,  it  is  an  exer- 
cise of  the  imagination.  And  in  much  that  has  re- 
cently been  said  about  protoplasm  and  life,  we  have 
the  outgoings  of  the  imagination  guided  and  con- 
trolled by  the  known  analogies  of  science." 

Ideality  is  necessarily  developed  in  the  pursuit 
of  the  aesthetic  arts.  Music,  that  divinest  human 
possession,  is  it  not  language  without  words  ?  one 
degree  nearer  to  the  absolute  expression  of  our  pas- 
sionate longing  for  unutterable  sweetness  and  har- 
mony ?  Painting  and  sculpture,  are  they  not  at- 
tempts to  set  forth  conceptions  more  perfect  and 
lovely  than  any  that  are  derived  from  natural  ob- 
jects ?  Are  not  all  great  works  of  art,  as  Edgar  Poe 
has  exquisitely  expressed  it,  efforts  "  to  apprehend 
the  supernal  loveliness  ?  to  grasp,  now  wholly  here 
on  earth,  those  divine  and  rapturous  joys  of  which 
we  obtain  but  brief  and  indeterminate  glimpses  "  ? 
Is  not  the  infinite  desire  with  which  we  seek  to  real- 
ize the  ideal,  a  species  of  worship  ? 

The  favorite  subjects  of  high  art  have  ever  been 
sacred.  From  the  time  of  Solomon's  Temple  to  this 
day,  the  resources  of  architecture  have  been  lavished 
upon  cathedrals  dedicated  to  serving  the  Lord. 


THE    UTILITY    OF    THE    IDEAL  233 

Rubens's  masterpiece  was  the  Descent  from  the 
Cross.  Michael  Angelo's  last  work  represented  the 
same  beautiful  and  touching  subject.  The  designs 
of  Raphael  are  chiefly  drawn  from  Scripture  history. 
The  last  touches  of  his  hand  rested  upon  the  head 
of  Christ  in  the  picture  of  the  Transfiguration.  "  It 
was,"  says  Vasari,  "  the  greatest  effort  of  an  art 
which  could  go  no  farther ;  and  this  last  term  of 
the  painting  marked  also  the  term  of  the  life  of  the 
painter.  He  never  touched  pencil  more." 

The  sublimest  musical  composition  of  Haydn  is  the 
oratorio  "Creation;"  Beethoven's  Symphonies  are 
the  rapture  of  devotion ;  the  spirit  of  Mozart  breathed 
itself  to  Paradise  in  a  prophetic  requiem. 

Tasso  is  immortal  in  "  Jerusalem  Delivered." 
Dante  in  the  "  Divina  Commedia;"  Milton's  genius 
culminated  in  the  production  of  "  Paradise  Lost  ;  " 
and  the  sacred  Book  concludes  with  the  magnificent 
imagery  of  the  Apocalypse. 

Thus  does  the  ideal  evermore  ascend.  Thus  does 
it  struggle  up  through  earth's  restraints  and  pains, 
aspiring  to  immortal  estates.  The  holiest  efforts  of 
our  lives  are  strivings  towards  the  ideal  good  which 
we  vaguely  comprehend.  That  which  we  call  the 
ideal  is  the  only  eternal  actual.  Is  not  the  body  the 
simulacrum,  and  the  invisible  soul  the  real  existence  ? 
Are  not  the  essential  truth,  beauty,  good,  love,  of 
this  Universe  abstract,  indefinite,  pure  ideal  ?  The 
fairest  visions  that  float  above  the  low  confines  of 
earth,  are  they  not  hints  and  suggestions  of  heaven  ? 


234  ESSAYS 

Mysterious  heaven !  eye  hath  not  seen,  nor  ear 
heard,  neither  have  entered  into  the  heart  of  man 
the  things  which  God  hath  prepared;  yet  when  with 
pure  desires  we  climb  the  dazzling  stair  of  Ideality, 
up  by  the  golden  steps  of  spiritual  culture,  we  feel 
the  airs  of  the  city  of  rapture  blowing  in  our  souls, 
and  almost  see,  with  spirit  vision,  the  glory-tinted 
pinnacles  of  the  temple  of  perfection  gleaming  afar ! 
Mount  higher  yet,  O  soul,  on  trembling  wings  of 
faith  and  adoration!  pierce  further  yet,  O  anxious 
eyes,  into  the  uncreated  light !  The  music  of  the 
spheres  rings  in  celestial  harmony  around.  The  infi- 
nite and  eternal  Paradise  is  entered,  but  the  Ideal  is 
not  attained.  It  evermore  recedes,  ascends.  It  is 
inaccessible.  From  everlasting  to  everlasting  we 
shall  pursue  it,  and  the  pursuit  shall  be  one  of  end- 
less happiness.  For  the  ideal  of  those  who  have  put 
on  immortality,  is  not  other  than  God,  the  sum  and 
essence  of  all  perfections. 


SYLVAN    MYTHOLOGY,  POETRY,   AND    SENTIMENT       23$ 


XI 

SYLVAN   MYTHOLOGY,    POETRY,   AND 
SENTIMENT1 

JACOB  GRIMM,  in  his  "  Teutonic  Mythology," 
proves  that  the  Aryan  word  for  temple  means  also 
grove. 

"  The  groves  were  God's  first  temples." 

Our  ancestors  held  the  woodland  sacred,  and  wor- 
shipped individual  trees.  A  grand  conception  of 
Norse  mythology  is  that  of  the  tree  Igdrasil.  The 
intense  prose-poet  of  Craigenputtoch  puts  the  gigan- 
tic idea  in  scenic  words.  "  I  like,  too,"  he  says, 
"that  representation  they  have  of  the  tree  Igdrasil. 
All  life  is  figured  by  them  as  a  tree.  Igdrasil,  the 
Ash-tree  of  Existence,  has  its  roots  deep  down  in 
the  kingdoms  of  Hela,  or  Death  ;  its  trunk  reaches 
up  heaven-high,  spreads  its  boughs  over  the  whole 
universe  ;  it  is  the  Tree  of  Existence.  At  the  foot 
of  it,  in  the  Death  Kingdom,  sit  three  Nornas, 
Fates,  —  the  Past,  Present,  and  Future, — watering  its 
roots  from  the  Sacred  Well.  Its  boughs,  with  their 
buddings  and  disleafings, —  events,  things  done,  catas- 
trophes,—  stretch  through  all  lands  and  times.  Is 

1  An  Arbor  Day  Essay  —  Read  before  the  Ohio  State  Forestry  Association. 


236  ESSAYS 

not  every  leaf  of  it  a  biography,  every  fibre  there  an 
act  or  word  ?  Its  boughs  are  histories  of  nations. 
The  rustle  of  it  is  the  voice  of  human  existence, 
onward  from  of  old.  It  grows  there,  the  breath  of 
human  passion  rustling  through  it;  or  storm-tossed, 
the  storm  wind  howling  through  it  like  the  voice  of 
all  the  gods.  It  is  Igdrasil,  the  Tree  of  Existence." 
The  primitive  people  of  Northern  Europe  conse- 
crated groves.  They  felt  the  solemn  influence  of 
imperial  trees,  and  deemed  that  the  gods  throned 
themselves  among  the  sky-reaching  branches.  The 
instinct  is  natural.  Architects  conjecture  that  the 
gothic  arch  was  suggested  by  the  majestic  aisles  of 
the  cathedral-forest.  The  camp-meeting  of  recent 
days  depends  for  much  of  its  picturesque  and  inspir- 
ing power  upon  the  essential  dignity  and  sublimity 
of  the  forest.  The  local  worship  of  trees  as  symbols 
of  some  mysterious  power,  survived  in  Germany 
long  after  the  introduction  of  Christianity.  The 
holy  oak  of  Geismar,  in  Hesse,  was  cut  down  by 
certain  missionaries  in  about  725  A.D.,  and  the  tim- 
bers hewn  from  it  were  built  into  a  church  edifice 
dedicated  to  Saint  Peter.  As  King  Olaf 

"  Preached  the  gospel  with  his  sword," 

so  the  militant  priests  preached  with  the  axe.  Many 
a  crusade  was  ordered  against  particular  sacred 
groves.  The  pagans  held  tenaciously  to  their  syl- 
van superstition.  Grimm  states,  that  "  in  the  Prin- 
cipality of  Minden,  on  Easter  Sunday,  the  young 


SYLVAN    MYTHOLOGY,   POETRY,  AND    SENTIMENT       237 

people  of  both  sexes  used,  with  loud  cries  of  joy,  to 
dance  a  rigan  or  rig  around  an  old  oak."  Again,  he 
says,  "  In  a  thicket  near  the  village  of  Wormeln, 
Panderborn,  stands  a  holy  oak,  to  which  the  inhabit- 
ants of  Wormeln  and  Calenburg  still  make  a  solemn 
procession  every  year."  This  recalls  to  mind  our 
English  May-pole  and  its  religio-social  character. 
And  how  inevitable  the  transition  of  thought  to  the 
American  liberty-pole,  and  the  partisan  pole-raisings, 
in  which  hickory  and  ash  represent,  if  not  religion, 
at  least  politics  and  patriotism  !  Surely  the  tree  yet 
maintains  a  wonderful  hold  on  imagination  as  a  much- 
suggesting  emblem. 

We  call  the  oak  King,  but  our  forefathers  named 
it  Divinity.  Possibly  the  young  oaks  that  Baron 
von  Steuben  sent  from  Saxony  to  Eden  Park,  Cin- 
cinnati, may  be  the  progeny  of  some  tough  old 
Northern  god.  Or  may  not  the  acorns  that  produced 
them  have  been  shaken  down  by  some  weird  wood- 
wife,  clad  in  white  garments,  sitting  in  the  tree-tops  ? 
Such  wonderful  maidens,  old  legends  say,  dwelt  in 
the  woods,  —  sometimes  were  seen  of  men  at  an 
uncertain  hour,  —  either  amid  the  thick  foliage  or 
half-hidden  in  a  hollow  tree.  The  Christian  priests 
of  the  Middle  Ages  caused  images  of  the  Madonna 
to  be  fixed  on  trees,  that  pagan  adoration  might  be 
drawn  from  the  old  religion  to  the  new  —  from  Odin 
to  Christ. 

The  Druids  of  Britain  figured  existence  by  a  tree 
—  not  the  ash,  but  the  oak.  The  very  word  Druid  is 


238  ESSAYS 

said  to  be  derived  from  the  Greek,  meaning  an  oak. 
The  Druids  worshipped  one  god,  Hesus  ;  his  emblem 
on  earth  was  the  oak-tree.  The  parasite  mistletoe, 
growing  on  the  tree,  is  man,  the  helpless  creature, 
dependent  on  the  bountiful  Source. 

The  Hindoos  held  the  banyan  in  veneration. 
They  called  it  the  sacred  tree,  the  "  Bohdi  tree"  — 
we  may  say  the  Igdrasil  of  the  Brahmans.  When 
Gautama,  the  founder  of  Buddhism,  underwent  the 
blessed  transformation  by  which  he  attained  a  per- 
fect virtue  —  became  divine  —  he  sat  under  a  banyan- 
tree.  The  miraculous  event  is  described  in  the  mag- 
nificent sixth  book  of  Arnold's  "  Light  of  Asia." 

In  the  Persian  Bible,  "  Zend  Avesta,"  are  many 
invocations  to  Ameretat,  god  of  trees,  one  of  the  six 
leading  divinities,  "Praise  to  Thee  —  Tree,  good, 
pure,  created  by  Mazda." 

Ruskin  in  his  greatest  book,  "  Modern  Painters," 
thus  glorifies  the  pine-tree  :  "  The  tremendous  unity 
of  the  pine  absorbs  and  moulds  the  life  of  a  race. 
.  The  pine  shadows  rest  upon  a  nation.  The  north- 
ern peoples,  century  after  century,  lived  under  one 
or  other  of  the  two  great  powers  of  the  pine  and 
the  sea,  both  infinite.  They  dwelt  amidst  the  forest 
as  they  wandered  on  the  waves,  and  saw  no  end  nor 
any  other  horizon.  Still  the  dark,  green  trees,  or 
the  dark,  green  waters  jagged  the  dawn  with  their 
fringe  or  their  foam.  And  whatever  elements  of 
imagination,  or  of  warrior  strength,  or  of  domestic 
justice  were  brought  down  by  the  Norwegian  or  the 


SYLVAN    MYTHOLOGY,   POETRY,  AND    SENTIMENT       239 

Goth  against  the  dissoluteness  or  degradation  of  the 
South  of  Europe,  were  taught  them  under  the  green 
roofs  and  wild  penetralia  of  the  pine." 

And  Emerson  treats  the  same  idea  poetically  in 
these  lines  from  his  "  Wood  Notes  : "  — 

"  Old  as  Jove, 
Old  as  Love, 
Who  of  me 
Tells  the  pedigree? 
Only  the  mountains  old, 
Only  the  waters  cold, 
Only  moon  and  star, 
My  coevals  are. 
Ere  .the  first  fowl  sung, 
My  relenting  boughs  among, 
Ere  Adam  wived, 
Ere  Adam  lived, 
Ere  the  duck  dived, 
Ere  the  bees  hived, 
Ere  the  lion  roared, 
Ere  the  eagle  soared, 
Light  and  heat,  land  and  sea, 
Spake  unto  the  oldest  tree." 

The  holy  books  of  all  nations  symbolize  much  by 
the  tree.  The  first  book  of  the  Hebrew  Scripture, 
and  the  last  book  of  the  Christian,  employ  the  tree 
metaphor  most  impressively.  In  Genesis  we  read  of 
the  "tree  of  Knowledge"  with  its  fatal  fruit,  and 
Revelation  supplies  a  contrast,  "The  tree  of  Life, 
which  bore  twelve  manner  of  fruits,  and  yielded  her 
fruit  every  month  ;  and  the  leaves  of  the  trees  were 
for  the  healing  of  the  nations." 

The  mythology  of   Greece   and   Rome   affords   a 


24O  ESSAYS 

beautiful  and  most  fanciful  system  of  mild  belief  in 
sylvan  divinities.  The  wood-wives  of  the  German 
forest  are  kin  to  the  Hamadryads  of  Southern  Europe. 
The  Grecian  wood-nymphs  dwelt  in  trunks  of  trees, 
from  which  they  sometimes  escaped,  as  a  ghost  from 
a  body  entranced ;  but  the  destruction  of  the  tree 
marked  the  term  of  the  Dryad's  life.  The  crackle 
and  groan  of  a  falling  tree  is  the  death-struggle  of 
the  imprisoned  nymph. 

Mythology,  ancient  and  modern,  abounds  with  sto- 
ries of  the  metamorphose  of  animate  creatures,  di- 
vine, human,  and  brute,  into  plants.  Virgil  relates  in 
the  "^Eneid"  that  when  the  pious  Trojan  began  to 
pluck  up  a  wild  myrtle  in  Thrace,  the  voice  of  his 
old  friend  Polydore  cried  out  from  the  torn  stock,  to 
the  amazement  and  grief  of  y£neas. 

Dante  consigned  the  souls  of  suicides  to  eternal 
bondage  in  gnarly,  infernal  trees,  on  the  sentient 
boughs  of  which  the  harpies  perch.  In  the  thirteenth 
canto  of  "  Inferno,"  the  poet  describes  his  doleful 
personal  experience  in  one  of  these  terrible  man-tree 
forests :  — 

"  Then  stretched  I  forth  my  hand  a  little  forward, 
And  plucked  a  branchlet  off  from  a  great  thorn ; 
And  the  trunk  cried,  '  Why  dost  thou  mangle  me?* 
After  it  had  become  embrowned  with  blood, 
It  recommenced  its  cry,  '  Why  dost  thou  rend  me  ? 
Hast  thou  no  spirit  of  pity  whatsoever? 
Men  once  we  were,  and  now  we  are  changed  to  trees : 
Indeed  thy  hand  should  be  more  pitiful, 
Even  if  the  souls  of  serpents  we  had  been.' 


SYLVAN    MYTHOLOGY,  POETRY,  AND    SENTIMENT      24! 

As  out  of  a  green  branch  that  is  on  fire, 
At  one  of  the  ends,  and  from  the  other  drips 
And  hisses  with  the  wind  that  is  escaping, 
So  from  the  splinter  issue  forth  together 
Both  words  and  blood." 

Tasso,  in  "  Jerusalem  Delivered/'  narrating  the 
adventures  of  Tancred  in  the  enchanted  wood,  de- 
scribes a  sorrowful  murmuring  in  the  leaves  of  the 
cypress ;  the  sound  of  a  half-articulate,  lamenting 
voice  that  filled  Tancred 

"  With  pity,  sadness,  grief,  compassion,  fear." 

Overwrought  with  awe  and  indefinite  apprehension, 
the  hero  drew  his  sword  and  cut  a  deep  gash  in  the 
tender  rind  of  the  cypress.  Drops  of  blood  trickled 
from  the  wound,  a  groan  escaped,  and  a  voice  com- 
plained in  accents  of  tender  reproach  :  — 

"Tancred,  thou  hast  me  hurt." 

It  was  the  voice  of  Clorinda,  the  lost,  loved  mistress 
of  the  unhappy  knight. 

Ariosto,  in  that  astounding  string  of  cantos,  called 
"  Orlando  Furioso,"  also  leads  a  hero,  Rogero,  into 
enchanted  realms  of  "  false  Alcina's  Empery,"  where 
the  man  of  arms  ties  his  courser  to  a  myrtle-tree. 
The  stud  made  the  myrtle  shake,  and  brought  down 
a  shower  of  leaves  about  his  feet.  Drops  of  sweat 
appeared  on  the  bark  of  the  tree.  At  length  the 
myrtle  spoke  and  told  a  long  story,  in  which  it,  or  he, 
for  this  tree  was  of  the  ruder  sex,  claimed  to  be  heir 
to  the  crown  of  England,  debarred  his  rights  by  the 


242  ESSAYS 

unfriendly  power  of  magic.  This  gallant  myrtle  had 
no  mean  opinion  of  his  own  personal  attractions,  for 
he  said, 

"  More  dames  than  one  my  beauty  served  to  warm." 

All  readers  are  familiar  with  Shakespeare's  Ariel, 
whom  the  witch  Sycorax  imprisoned  in  a  "  cloven 
pine,"  from  which  he  was  rescued  by  Prospero,  who 
afterwards  threatened  :  — 

"  If  thou  more  murmurest,  I  will  rend  an  oak, 
And  peg  thee  in  his  knotty  entrails  till 
Thou  hast  howled  away  twelve  winters." 

The  belief  that  plants  may  possess  a  life,  spirit,  or 
soul  similar  to  that  of  man  has  almost  faded  out  of 
the  world.  Yet  poetry  still  retains  the  mythical 
conception  in  a  refined  form.  Bryant  sings  :  — * 

"  Nay,  doubt  we  not  that  under  the  rough  rind, 
In  the  green  veins  of  those  fair  growths  of  earth, 
There  dwells  a  nature  that  receives  delight* 
From  all  the  gentle  processes  of  life, 
And  shrinks  from  loss  of  being.     Dim  and  faint 
May  be  the  sense  of  pleasure  or  of  pain, 
As  in  our  dreams ;  but,  haply,  real  still." 

Wordsworth,  in  delicate  sympathy  with  nature, 
trod  the  woodland  with  deep  reverence,  and  admon- 
ished thus : — 

"  Move  along  these  shades 
In  gentleness  of  heart,  with  gentle  hand 
Touch  —  for  there  is  a  spirit  in  the  woods." 

Tylor,  in  his  "Primitive  Culture,"  says,  "The 
notion  of  a  vegetable  soul,  common  to  plants  and  to 


SYLVAN    MYTHOLOGY,   POETRY,  AND    SENTIMENT      243 

the  higher  organisms  possessing  an  animal  soul  in 
addition,  was  familiar  to  mediaeval  philosophy,  and 
is  not  yet  forgotten  by  naturalists."  May  it  not  be 
added  that  the  facts  and  speculations  of  biology  and 
evolution  not  only  revive  the  ancient  theory,  but 
attempt  to  extend  it  ? 

The  new  philosophy  may  prove  that  man  is  organi- 
cally akin,  not  only  to  baboon  and  bird,  but  also  to 
pine-tree,  and  palm.  Protoplasm  is  marvellously  demo- 
cratic. There  is  no  doubt  that  all  matter  is  alike. 
Resolving  nature  puts  all  her  kingdoms  on  familiar 
a*nd  equal  terms. 

"Imperial  Caesar,  dead,  and  turned  to  clay, 
May  stop  a  rent  to  keep  the  wind  away." 

Some  years  ago  I  visited  in  Providence  the  spot 
where  Roger  Williams  is  buried.  I  was  told  that  an 
attempt  had  been  made  to  exhume  his  body.  A 
small  tree  was  the  monument  that  marked  the  grave. 
The  sexton's  spade  discovered  neither  coffin  nor 
bones,  but  instead  was  found  a  plexus  of  roots,  so 
massed  and  shaped  as  to  bear  the  form  of  a  human 
body.  Ten  thousand  rootlets,  with  their  spongioles, 
had  eaten  up  the  dust  of  Roger  Williams,  and  arranged 
themselves  so  as  to  preserve  the  exact  outline  of  his 
frame.  Here  was  a  direct  transformation  of  human 
flesh  into  wood,  bark,  and  leaves  ;  maybe,  into  flowers 
and  fruit. 

Considered  merely  as  material  changes,  the  meta- 
morphoses of  Ovid  are  not  wonderful  ;  they  are  but 


244  ESSAYS 

chemical  experiments.  One  might  actually  taste  the 
blood  of  Thisbe  in  a  ripe  mulberry,  or  see  the  pale 
cheek  of  Narcissus  in  the  flower  into  which  that 
melancholy  youth  was  transubstantiated. 

When  we  consider  how  nearly  allied  in  substance 
are  nerve  and  wood  fibre,  and  how  interwoven  with 
the  religion,  philosophy,  history,  and  poetry  of  the 
race  the  forest  is,  we  may  begin  to  understand  why 
trees  and  their  associations  so  deeply  interest  a 
thoughtful,  and  especially  an  imaginative  or  senti- 
mental man.  We  can  understand  why  the  poets, 
great  and  small,  delight  in  celebrating  woodland 
scenery,  and  in  idealizing  individual  trees.  From  the 
simple  lyric,  "  Woodman,  spare  that  tree,"  to  the 
transcendental  "  Wood  Notes  "  of  Emerson,  the  wide 
range  of  sylvan  sentiment  runs  up  and  down  the 
whole  gamut  of  poesy.  Volumes  could  be  compiled 
of  excellent  poetry  relating  to  the  woods.  Literature 
fosters  love  for  trees,  and  is,  therefore,  a  most  practi- 
cal ally  of  forestry  as  a  science.  The  idea  of  associ- 
ating the  memory  of  authors  with  the  preservation 
and  admiration  of  trees  is  really  an  inspired  thought. 
Nothing  more  appropriate  can  be  conceived. 

I  do  not  forget  that  there  must  be  saw-logs  as  well 
as  sentiment,  planks  as  well  as  poetry.  Forestry  is 
a  useful  art,  and  common-sense  cultivates  trees  for 
timber.  While  we  honor  the  spade,  we  must  not 
withhold  the  praises  of  the  axe.  Yet  now  it  is  well 
that  the  axe  should  rest  with  the  rifle  which  slew  the 
wild  beasts  and  wild  men  that  threatened  the  pioneer. 


SYLVAN    MYTHOLOGY,  POETRY,  AND    SENTIMENT      245 

Hitherto,  the  very  huzza  of  patriotism  and  progress 
has  been  raised  for  that  same  sharp  axe.  "  Be  Yankee 
doodle  doo  and  the  felling  of  Western  forest  remem- 
bered," wrote  Carlyle  to  Emerson. 

It  now  becomes  startlingly  apparent  that  the  chop- 
per's strokes  have  resounded  too  long  in  the  primeval 
glooms  ;  that  the  war  on  the  woods  is  likely  to  prove 
a  war  of  extermination.  No  more  is  it  so  great  a 
virtue  to  chop.  "  A  man  was  famous  according  as 
he  had  lifted  up  axes  upon  the  thick  trees."  Luckily 
the  patient  earth  will  restore  the  majestic  armies 
slain  ;  recruit  troops  of  trees  on  hill  and  plain.  To 
this  end,  we  must  cultivate  a  sentiment  for  planting, 
as  our  fathers  stimulated  a  passion  for  clearing. 


246  ESSAYS 


XII 

WILLIAM   DOWNS    HENKLE  — MEMORIAL 
ADDRESS1 

PORTIA.     Is  it  your  friend.  .  .  ? 
BASSANIO.    The  dearest  friend  to  me.  .  . 

Merchant  of  Venice* 

A  FASCINATING  interest  attaches  to  inquiries  con- 
cerning the  origin  of  the  human  species ;  still  more 
intense  is  the  interest  when  applied  to  the  origin  of 
the  individual.  By  what  process  of  evolution,  through 
what  series  of  natural  selections  and  conflicts  for  sur- 
vival, did  this  or  that  particular  man  come  to  being  ? 
What  were  his  hereditary  aids  or  hindrances  ?  Who 
and  whence  his  ancestors  ? 

We  are  our  forefathers.  The  prophecy  of  intel- 
lectual power  is  in  the  fortunately  organized  brain. 
Good  organization  is  bettered  by  culture.  The  per- 
fect work  of  education  can  be  accomplished  only  in 
the  person  well  born  of  a  stock  rightly  educated. 

We  are  astonished  at  the  rapid  growth  of  a  mind 
apparently  neglected.  A  country  lad,  without  schools 
or  school-masters,  suddenly  absorbs  the  knowledge 
and  culture  of  the  age,  and  gains  recognition  as  the 
flower  of  the  college  faculty. 

1  Read  at  the  thirty-third  annual  meeting  of  the  Ohio  Teachers'  Association,  at 
Niagara  Falls,  N.Y.,  July  7>  1882, 


MEMORIAL    ADDRESS  247 

The  tree  accounts  for  the  branch.  In  the  root  and 
the  soil  which  nourishes  it,  seek  for  an  explanation 
of  the  flower  and  the  fruit. 

William  Downs  Henkle  was  fortunate  in  his  an- 
cestry. Many  streams  of  good  blood  found  conflu- 
ence in  him.  We  shall  understand  him  the  better 
by  studying  his  progenitors. 

Tracing  his  paternal  lineage  back  six  generations, 
we  reach  Rev.  Gerhard  Henkle,  a  German  theolo- 
gian of  Frankfort,  chaplain  to  a  grand-duke.  Gerhard 
Henkle  espoused  Lutheran  doctrines,  lost  credit  at 
court,  gave  up  his  chaplaincy,  and  between  the  years 
1720  and  1730  emigrated  to  America,  for  conscience' 
sake  and  freedom's.  He  settled  first  at  Germantown, 
Pennsylvania,  but  later,  removed  to  the  county  of 
Lancaster,  where  he  became  pastor  of  a  Lutheran 
Church.  He  is  said  to  have  founded  St.  Michael's 
Church  in  Philadelphia.1 

Gerhard  Henkle's  great-grandson,  Moses  Henkle, 
born  in  Virginia,  and  educated  in  the  College  of  Wil- 
liam and  Mary,  became  a  Methodist,  and  preached 
Methodism  in  a  day  when  the  sect  was  not  popu- 
lar. He  married  Margaret  Montgomery,  a  descend- 
ant of  a  distinguished  family,  and  near  of  kin  to  the 
poet.  Moses  and  Margaret  Henkle  had  five  sons,  all 
of  whom,  following  their  father's  example,  became 
preachers  of  the  gospel.  One  of  these  five  sons, 

1  Rev.  Socrates  Henkle,  D.D.,  of  New  Market,  Va.,  possesses  a  silver  spoon 
three  hundred  years  old,  that  belonged  to  Gerhard  Henkle.  It  bears  the  Henkle 
coat-of-arms. 


248  ESSAYS 

Rev.  Lemuel   Green  Henkle,  was  the  father  of  the 
late  Hon.  William  Downs  Henkle. 

The  name  Downs  comes  from  the  maternal  line  of 
Henkle's  ancestry.  Mary  Downs  was  the  maiden 
name  of  his  mother.  She  was  of  Quaker  parentage. 
Her  mother,  Elizabeth  Morse,  was  a  direct  descend- 
ant of  Mary  Wright,  of  whom  we  have  this  quaint 
account  in  authentic  Quaker  records  :  "  In  the  year 
1660,  Mary  Wright,  a  young  maiden  of  Oyster  Bay, 
Long  Island,  travelled  several  hundred  miles  and 
preached  openly  to  John  Endicott  and  his  Council, 
in  Boston,  against  the  bloody  work  of  executing  sev- 
eral of  our  ministers  for  no  other  crime  than  preach- 
ing the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ ;  for  which  she  was 
imprisoned  near  a  year,  and  then,  with  twenty-seven 
other  Quakers,  released  from  jail  and  driven  into  the 
wilderness." 

Henkle,  Montgomery,  Downs,  Morse,  Wright  - 
good  sources  are  these  from  which  to  derive  a  man 
and  compose  a  character.  These  names  represent 
simplicity  of  conduct,  progressive  ideas,  sensitive  con- 
science, and  tenacious  adherence  to  principles.  The 
religious  element  dominates. 

William  D.  Henkle  was  born  Oct.  8,  1828,  at  Pleas- 
ant Hill,  six  miles  from  Springfield,  Clarke  County,  O. 
His  father's  possessions  were  but  small ;  he  owned 
a  humble  cottage,  besides  which  his  horse,  saddle- 
and  bridle,  comprised  about  all  his  worldly  wealth, 
for  he  was  an  itinerant  preacher.  Obeying  a  call  to 
Louisville,  Ky.,  Rev.  Lemuel  Henkle  removed  to  that 


MEMORIAL    ADDRESS  249 

city  with  his  family,  and  was  there  stationed  pastor 
of  the  Methodist  Protestant  Church.  There  he  died, 
of  confluent  small-pox,  in  the  year  1835.  William 
was  at  the  time  a  lad  of  seven.  He  had  three  sis- 
ters, one  nine,  one  five,  and  one  three  years  old. 

After  her  husband's  decease,  Mary  Downs  Henkle 
returned  to  her  father's  home  at  Urbana,  O.,  where 
she  resided  for  two  years,  and  then  she  removed 
to  her  own  cottage  in  Springfield.  While  living  at 
his  grandfather's,  in  Urbana,  William,  or  "  little  Bill 
Downs,"  as  he  was  familiarly  styled,  manifested  that 
disposition  to  inquiry  which  distinguished  him  in 
manhood.  His  father  had  taught  him  to  read,  and  he 
conceived  a  love  of  books.  The  first  school  he  at- 
tended was  at  the  old  Urbana  Academy,  in  which  he 
afterwards  tried  his  "prentice  hand"  as  a  teacher. 

William's  aptitude  for  numbers,  and  his  persever- 
ing habit,  were  shown  while  he  was  a  very  small  boy. 
Failing  one  evening  to  get  the  right  answer  to  a  ques- 
tion in  arithmetic,  he  went  to  bed  dissatisfied.  In  the 
night  he  was  heard,  calling  out  to  his  sister,  "  I  have 
the  answer  !  I  worked  it  out  in  my  sleep  !  "  His  mem- 
ory was  excellent,  and  often  when  at  the  old  Downs 
homestead,  the  family  assembled  in  the  large,  cheerful 
room,  made  bright  by  the  roaring  fire  in  the  wide  fire- 
place, he  entertained  the  company  by  reciting  "  On 
Linden  when  the  sun  was  low."  It  is  no  surprise  to 
learn  that  the  future  editor  of  Notes  and  Queries  was 
fond  of  working  out  puzzles.  He  was  very  quick- 
minded,  and  made  ready  application  of  what  he 


25O  ESSAYS 

learned.  His  sister  relates  that  "  nothing  delighted 
him  so  much  &s  getting  a  company  of  children  to- 
gether and  making  a  speech  to  them,  generally  on 
temperance."  From  this  we  learn  that  the  institute 
lecturer  began  practice  very  early,  and  on  a  very  im- 
portant subject,  to  a  very  impressible  audience. 
When  the  widow  and  her  son  and  daughters  began 
their  independent  struggle  for  subsistence,  in  Spring- 
field, it  was  well  for  them  that  they  were  bound  to- 
gether closely  in  the  bands  of  family  love.  Toil  was 
their  portion.  They  were  acquainted  with  privation. 
The  mother's  needle  helped  to  earn  the  children's 
bread.  Adjoining  their  place  there  was  a  brick-yard, 
and  some  of  the  hands  who  worked  at  the  kilns  were 
boarded  at  the  widow's  house.  The  owner  of  the 
brick-yard  hired  William  to  drive  a  cart,  paying  him 
a  trifle  for  his  service.  To  what  use  do  you  think  the 
black-haired,  rosy  boy  put  the  first  wages  he  received  ? 
He  bought  a  bonnet  for  his  mother. 

His  mother !  The  gentle  Quakeress  who  had 
given  her  hand  to  the  earnest  Methodist  preacher, 
—  the  mild,  thoughtful,  intrepid  descendant  of  Mary 
Wright !  From  her  William  inherited  his  sweet- 
est and  his  strongest  qualities.  From  her  he  de- 
rived his  quiet  way  and  his  even  temper.  Her  brain 
transmitted  to  his  the  mathematical  aptitude.  Mary 
Downs  was  potentially  the  author  of  the  Algebra 
which  her  son  actually  produced.  "  She  could  do 
head-work  more  accurately  than  any  other  woman 
I  ever  saw,"  writes  one  who  knew  her.  Her  daugh- 


MEMORIAL    ADDRESS  2$  I 

ter,  Mrs.  Spain,  says,  "  Mother,  when  she  was  left  a 
young  widow  with  four  children,  resolved  to  devote 
her  life  to  educating  them  ;  she  managed,  by  untiring 
industry,  to  eke  out  the  slender  means  left  her  in 
such  a  way  that  we  were  kept  constantly  together. 
.  .  .  Losing  our  father  as  we  did,  we  gave  a  double 
share  of  love  to  our  mother  ;  and  having  only  one 
brother,  he  was  the  idol  of  the  family.  I  am  sure  no 
happier  family  ever  lived.  Mother  was  always  the 
centre,  ready  to  take  an  interest  in  all  our  lessons  or 
games  ;  but  Will  was  the  life  of  the  circle,  ever  will- 
ing to  amuse  and  to  instruct."  The  tribute  which 
Mrs.  Spain  pays  to  her  brother  has  deep  significance, 
for  relations  peculiarly  touching  existed  between  her 
and  him.  They  were  playmates  from  infancy,  and 
were  tenderly  attached  to  each  other  always.  When 
Ella  was  a  child  of  four  she  one  day  fell  into  a  mill- 
race,  and  was  rescued  from  drowning  by  Will,  who 
plunged  into  the  water  and  saved  her.  He  was  her 
only  teacher.  When  he  expired,  this  devoted  sister 
was  at  his  side,  and,  with  his  wife  and  daughter, 
caught  the  last  whispered  "  farewell  "  from  his  dying 
lips. 

Mr.  J.  M.  Milhollin,  a  second  cousin  of  Mr.  Henkle, 
gives  interesting  recollections  of  his  kinsman's  boy- 
hood and  youth.  He  says,  "  When  wre  used  to  gather 
about  the  streets  of  Springfield,  Will  was  never  a 
ringleader.  His  favorite  attitude  was  to  stand,  lean- 
ing against  a  wall  or  other  object,  with  his  hands 
behind  him.  He  generally  inclined  his  head  a  little, 


252  ESSAYS 

and  always  smiled  when  addressed,  or  when  he  him- 
self spoke.  His  own  share  of  the  talk  was  small,  and 
was  composed  of  questions,  answers,  and  very  short 
sentences.  Often  he  saw  a  point  where  others  did 
not.  Then  he  would  be  very  apt  to  mention  some- 
thing about  it  to  the  boy  next  to  him,  but  not  to  the 
whole  crowd.'* 

To  those  who  have  watched  the  growth  of  Mr. 
Henkle's  library,  and  who  know  how  his  very  heart- 
strings were  twined  round  his  precious  books,  the 
story  of  his  first  collection  is  very  affecting.  The 
slender  boy  that  drove  a  cart,  hauling  clay  in  the  brick- 
yard, spent  part  of  his  scanty  purse  in  buying  books. 
His  bookcase  was  a  candle-box  with  a  sliding  lid. 
Happy  boy  !  symbolic  box  !  the  candles  have  shed 
their  glimmering  light  and  are  gone  out  ;  but  the 
books, — inextinguishable  torches,  —  shall  shine  on, 
to  illuminate  heart  and  mind. 

Young  Henkle  went  to  school  in  Springfield,  first 
to  Mrs.  Bassett,  then  to  a  teacher  named  Adams, 
and  for  a  short  time  to  his  uncle,  Alfred  Reed. 
The  effect  of  the  school  routine  upon  him  was  not 
stimulating.  He  appears  to  have  conceived  a  dis- 
gust, not  for  learning,  but  for  the  teaching  he  re- 
ceived. Possibly  he  felt  a  dim  consciousness  that 
school  was  retarding  his  progress  rather  than  pro- 
moting it.  Such  feelings  do  possess  the  unquiet 
mind  of  youth  at  the  period  when  conscious  acquisi- 
tion begins.  There  comes  a  time  when  the  pupil 
gets  outside  of  himself,  looks  at  himself,  and  sees 


MEMORIAL    ADDRESS  253 

the  necessity  of  conducting  his  own  education,  using 
books  and  teachers  as  essential  means,  but  not  as 
wholly  responsible  for  his  education,  or  as  substi- 
tutes for  his  own  industry  and  will.  We  are  told 
that  the  docile,  ingenuous  boy  passed  into  a  state  of 
obstinacy.  He  is  dissatisfied  with  the  aridity  and 
the  narrowness  of  the  school.  Surely  there  are  bet- 
ter modes  than  this,  he  grumbles.  Better  nothing 
than  this  dull  round. 

He  roves  the  streets,  and  rambles  away  to  the  hills 
and  woods  of  the  wide  country.  But  it  is  not  list- 
less wandering.  It  is  not  indolent  dreaming.  The 
boy  is  in  quest  of  the  living  fountains.  He  longs  to 
know  ;  to  seize  fast  hold  of  realities.  His  restless- 
ness is  owing  to  that  pang  which  Plato  describes  as 
the  constrained  effort  of  the  soul's  wings  striving  to 
expand  and  bear  the  man  up  and  away. 

Now  the  book-store,  like  a  strong  magnet,  draws 
him  to  its  loaded  shelves.  The  candle-box  is  no 
longer  large  enough  to  hold  the  volumes  that  come 
to  Widow  Henkle's  cottage,  and  Will  has  a  black 
walnut  box  made  and  placed  on  the  top  of  the  bureau, 
for  books.  As  one  awakened  to  a  conviction  of  sin 
feels  that  all  his  past  virtues  count  for  nothing,  so 
the  boy,  aroused  to  a  sense  of  ignorance,  begins  hum- 
bly to  study  and  learn.  His  quick  ear  has  caught 
scraps  of  conversation  between  thoughtful  men,  and 
he  finds  out  who  are  the  intellectual  lights  of  the 
town.  He  hears  of  this  doctor,  and  that  lawyer,  and 
yonder  professor,  who  possess  treasures  of  special 


254  ESSAYS 

knowledge.  The  strong  desire  to  become  a  scholar 
warms  his  being.  He  is  ready  now  for  teachers  and 
schools.  Do  we  not  know  that  the  work  is  all  but 
done  ?  Henkle  is  born  into  the  kingdom  of  the 
intellectually  saved  ! 

When  we  are  ready  for  them,  our  teachers  come. 
How,  like  a  good  genius  in  a  fairy  tale,  came  the 
young  high  school  student,  T.  D.  Crow,  to  William 
Henkle.  "I  noticed  the  lad,"  says  Mr.  Crow,  "sit- 
ting in  his  mother's  kitchen,  intently  poring  over 
such  old  books  or  newspapers  as  he  could  lay  his 
hands  upon,  and,  indeed,  seeming  to  care  for  naught 
else.  So  I  said  to  him  one  day,  <  William,  if  you 
will  come  to  my  room  once  each  day,  I  will  hear  you 
recite  in  anything  you  want  to  study.'  .  .  .  Next 
evening  he  entered  my  room  with  three  books  under 
his  arm,  viz.,  Smith's  English  Grammar,  Talbot's 
Arithmetic,  and  Comstock's  Natural  Philosophy." 
This  fairy  tale  had  its  just,  poetic  sequel  when,  after 
long  years,  Mr.  Henkle  made  Mr.  Crow  acting  com- 
missioner of  common  schools,  at  the  State  capital. 

Grammar,  arithmetic,  philosophy,  — these  only  pro- 
voked the  desire  for  other  branches.  The  passion 
for  learning  increased  by  what  it  fed  on.  Young 
Henkle  sought  the  acquaintance  of  Mr.  White,  a 
scholarly  gentleman  then  teaching  in  Springfield, 
who  afterwards  became  a  supreme  judge.  Mr. 
White  led  his  eager  student  into  the  mysteries  of 
algebra  and  the  charms  of  Latin  grammar.  Ambi- 
tion now  pointed  to  the  Springfield  High  School  as 


MEMORIAL    ADDRESS  255 

the  next  goal.  Chandler  Robbins,  afterwards  pro- 
fessor of  languages  in  Augusta  College,  Kentucky, 
was  principal  of  the  high  school  when  Henkle  at- 
tended it.  The  continuity  of  Henkle's  high  school 
course  was  interrupted  by  his  teaching  his  first 
school  in  the  winter  of  1845-46.  He  was  about  six- 
teen years  old.  He  boarded  with  his  mother,  ate 
breakfast  early,  walked  four  miles  to  school,  came 
home  to  supper,  and  then  went  one  mile  to  a  night 
school  to  recite  German  and  French,  —  ten  miles* 
walking  a  day,  besides  the  labor  of  teaching  a  coun- 
try school  and  learning  lessons  in  two  foreign  lan- 
guages ! 

His  teaching  term  ended,  Henkle  returned  to  the 
high  school,  from  which  he  was  graduated  August 
7,  1846.  At  graduation  the  rising  scholar  delivered 
a  Latin  salutatory.  A  proud  occasion  was  that  for 
the  Henkle  family.  Mother  and  sisters  attended  the 
exercises,  which  were  given  in  the  Methodist  Church. 
"  How  happy  we  all  were  !  "  reports  Mrs.  Spain.  "  I 
knew  Will's  salutatory  as  well  as  he  did  himself,  and 
could  have  prompted  him  had  there  been  need  of  it." 

From  the  high  school  Will  went  to  Wittenberg 
College,  but  he  did  not  finish  the  college  course.  In 
the  catalogue  for  1847  his  name  stands  highest  among 
the  classical  students.  He  always  cherished  grateful 
recollections  of  Wittenberg  and  of  his  instructors 
there.  "  But  what,  in  faith,  make  you  from  Witten- 
berg?" an  intimate  friend  used  to  ask  him  playfully, 
quoting  Hamlet ;  to  which  he  would  quickly  reply, 
"  A  truant  disposition,  good  my  lord." 


256  ESSAYS 

Late  in  1847  he  taught  a  private  school  at  Urbana, 
and  not  long  afterwards  he  was  chosen  principal  of 
the  academy.  His  mother  sold  her  house  in  Spring- 
field and  followed  him  to  Urbana. 

One  obtains  a  curious  impression  from  reading 
formal  recommendations  given  to  eminent  men  before 
they  became  eminent.  Mr.  Henkle's  old  teacher, 
Chandler  Robbins,  in  a  document  dated  September, 
1847,  "takes  pleasure  in  stating  that  Mr.  William 
Henkle  was  formerly  a  pupil  of  his,"  and  "  believes 
him  to  be  well  qualified  to  teach  youth  in  literature 
and  science  as  far  as  to  prepare  them  to  enter  the 
freshman  class  in  college,"  and,  finally,  "  cordially 
recommends  him  to  the  community  as  a  young  man 
every  way  worthy  of  confidence." 

While  at  Urbana,  Henkle  one  day  came  into 
Doctor  Howell's  office  and  discovered  the  doctor's 
brother  with  a  large  work  on  anatomy  in  his  hands. 
"  I  am  trying  to  learn  the  names  of  five  hundred 
muscles  and  two  hundred  and  fifty  bones."  -  —  "Give 
me  a  dozen  of  them,"  said  Henkle  ;  "  I'll  remember 
them  for  you."  His  avidity  for  all  knowledges  led 
him  to  undertake  the  study  of  medicine,  in  which 
he  made  considerable  progress.  Dr.  Howell  was 
astonished  at  the  extent  of  the  young  school- 
master's information,  and  said  with  emphasis,  "He 
is  thorough." 

The  Henkle  family  connections  in  Clarke  County 
were  numerous  ;  and  it  was  a  custom  for  all  the  kith 
and  kin  to  assemble  at  stated  times,  and  to  hold  what 


MEMORIAL    ADDRESS  257 

Will  called  a  "  Henkle  Jubilee."  A  memorable 
gathering  of  this  kind  took  place  while  William  was 
teaching  in  Urbana.  He  hired  a  substitute  on  the 
day  of  jubilee,  for  on  no  account  could  the  family 
festival  go  on  without  him.  He  was  the  inspiration 
and  joy  of  the  company.  It  was  long  remembered 
by  those  present  that  Will  made  a  wonderful,  comic 
speech,  from  a  swinging  perch  in  the  branches  of  a 
big  white-oak  tree  that  had  just  been  cut  down. 
Certain  teasing  girl  cousins  made  fun  of  the  orator's 
newly  sprouted  whiskers,  and  he  retorted  by  smooth- 
ing a  large  imaginary  beard,  and  exclaiming,  "  My 
whiskers  !  oh,  my  whiskers  !  "  The  day  was  drowned 
in  laughter. 

One  day  an  excursion  was  made,  up  the  midde 
branch  of  Buck  Creek,  by  a  dozen  young  people,  in 
a  two-horse  farm-wagon.  Will  Henkle  was  the  soul 
of  the  party.  "What  we  lacked  of  having  sport  that 
day  it  would  be  hard  to  supply,"  reports  the  cousin 
who  drove  the  horses.  A  shower  came  up.  William 
borrowed  of  a  farmer  an  enormous  overcoat,  nut- 
brown,  old-fashioned,  short  in  the  waist  and  long  in 
the  skirts,  with  tail  split  almost  up  to  the  shoulder- 
blades.  In  this  coat  did  the  future  doctor  of  phi- 
losophy masquerade,  to  the  infinite  amusement  of  the 
others.  He  started  a  spelling-school  in  the  wagon, 
and  gave  out  such  words  as  shoo,  the  exclamation 
used  to  drive  away  chickens.  Arriving  at  his  uncle's 
house  he  played  beggar,  imploring  his  aunt  to 

"  Pity  the  sorrows  of  a  poor  old  man." 


258  ESSAYS 

Then  there  was  strolling  over  the  hills,  and  sing- 
ing "Uncle  Ned"  and  "Old  Virginny,"  and  recita- 
tions, the  whole  concluding  with  a  pathetic  selection 
by  Will  about  an  Alpine  vulture  carrying  away  a 
child,  ending  with  the  lines,  — 

"  The  scarlet  cap  it  wore  that  morn 
Was  still  upon  its  head." 

Such  were  the  cheerful,  innocent,  social  recrea- 
tions of  William  D.  Henkle  at  the  age  of  twenty. 

He  now  puts  on  the  toga  of  manhood,  and  with 
true  Roman  valor  begins  the  campaign  of  mature 
life.  In  1848  he  made  his  first  appearance  as  insti- 
tute instructor,  giving  a  series  of  lectures  on  English 
grammar.  When  the  union  system  went  into  effect 
he  was  employed  as  principal  of  the  Urbana  High 
School. 

In  1850  he  went  to  Greenfield,  O.,  and  for  one 
term  taught  in  the  seminary  there.  From  Green- 
field he  went  to  Mechanicsburg,  whither  his  mother's 
family  also  removed.  He  taught  in  a  seminary,  in 
which  he  was  associated  with  a  superior  scholar, 
Mr.  Robert  Wilson,  a  graduate  of  Queen's  College, 
Belfast,  Ireland.  Prof.  T.  C.  Mendenhall  tells  us 
that  "it  is  highly  probable  that  Mr.  Henkle  there 
learned,  for  the  first  time,  through  his  association 
with  Mr.  Wilson,  the  great  value  of  accurate,  thor- 
ough, and  exhaustive  scholarship,  a  lesson  which  he 
himself,  in  after-life,  unconsciously  taught  all  who 
were  so  fortunate  as  to  sustain  intimate  relations 


MEMORIAL    ADDRESS  259 

with  him."  While  at  Mechanicsburg,  Henkle  gave 
much  of  his  mental  energy  to  mathematical  work.  In 
a  letter  to  one  of  his  mathematical  correspondents, 
Miss  Fitch,  now  Mrs.  A.  F.  Rabb,  dated  March  12, 
1852,  he  says,  "  We  have  here  a  glorious  mathemati- 
cal trio,  composed  of  Mr.  Stribbling,  an  engineer; 
my  partner,  Mr.  Wilson;  and  your  friend,  W.  D. 
Henkle.  Our  attention  is  devoted  almost  entirely 
to  geometry.  Neither  of  them  is  an  amateur  in 
algebra.  Geometry  is  their  forte.  Hence,  whenever 
I  receive  an  algebraic  problem  for  solution,  I  don't 
hand  it  over  to  them,  but  keep  it  all  to  myself.  .  .  . 
We  go  in  for  mathematics  here  among  the  ladies.  I 
took  a  class  of  girls  through  the  Calculus." 

His  devotion  to  mathematics  did  not  prevent 
him  from  investigating  other  special  subjects.  In 
December,  1853,  he  attended  the  second  annual 
meeting  of  the  Ohio  Phonetic  Association  at  Colum- 
bus, and  read  an  able  report  on  Phonetic  Teaching. 
At  the  third  annual  meeting  of  the  same  body,  held 
in  Cincinnati,  in  1854,  he  also  took  a  leading  part, 
presenting  a  curious  and  elaborate  paper  on  The 
Bearings  of  Phonetics  on  Etymology.  The  paper  was 
published  with  the  proceedings  of  the  Association. 

While  living  at  Mechanicsburg,  Mr.  Henkle  was 
married  to  Miss  Kate  A.  Estabrook  of  Dayton,  O., 
Oct.  13,  1851. 

In  the  summer  of  1854  Mr.  Henkle  and  family 
removed  from  Mechanicsburg  to  Green  Mount,  near 
Richmond,  Ind.,  where  a  college  had  been  organ- 


26O  ESSAYS 

ized,  in  which  he  occupied  the  chair  of  ancient  lan- 
guages. 

One  of  Mr.  Henkle's  pupils  at  Green  Mount  was 
Wm.  Henry  Smith,  afterwards  secretary  of  state  in 
Ohio,  and  now  manager  of  the  Associate  Press.  Mr. 
Smith  prepared  a  sketch  of  Mr.  Henkle's  life  for  the 
Type  of  tJie  Times. 

In  a  letter  to  his  correspondent,  Miss  Fitch, 
dated  Oct.  15,  1854,  Mr.  Henkle  speaks  of  visiting 
Cleveland  to  attend  the  Ohio  State  Association,  and 
of  going  to  Urbana,  Mechanicsburg,  Dayton,  Oxford, 
and  Eaton.  "I  taught  algebra  at  the  Eaton  Normal 
School  about  two  weeks,  after  which  I  conducted  a 
Teachers'  Institute  at  Richmond.  Professor  Stod- 
dard  and  Dr.  Cutter  were  with  us  the  first  week. 
It  was  the  best  institute  I  ever  attended.  Our 
school  began  on  the  3d  of  September,  since  which 
time  I  have  read  about  seven  works,  delivered  three 
scientific  lectures,  attended  to  school  duties,  and 
written  quite  a  number  of  pages  of  algebra,  in  series 
and  indeterminate  analysis.  I  suppose  you  know 
that  Stoddard  and  myself  intend  to  publish  a  Uni- 
versity Algebra.  .  .  .  Perhaps  you  would  like  to 
know  what  works  I  have  been  reading.  I  will  tell 
you.  Trench,  Tuckerman,  '  Characteristics  of  Litera- 
ture,' two  vols.,  *  Plurality. of  Worlds,'  'More  Worlds 
than  One,'  and  Chapin's  Grammar." 

The  institute  at  Richmond  alluded  to  in  this  let- 
ter was  really  the  first  session  of  the  Wayne  County 
Teachers'  Association.  Mr.  Hiram  Hadley  says,  "  The 


MEMORIAL    ADDRESS  26l 

Wayne  County  Association,  through  the  impetus 
which  Henkle  more  than  all  others  imparted  to  it, 
held  its  meetings  uninterruptedly  for  more  than  ten 
years,  and  set  in  motion  educational  forces  that  have 
contributed  largely,  not  only  to  the  enviable  rank 
which  Wayne  County  holds,  but  to  the  educational 
progress  of  the  whole  State." 

Mr.  Henkle  aided  in  the  organization  and  main- 
tenance of  the  Indiana  State  Teachers'  Association, 
of  which  he  was  a  charter  member.  He  was  called 
from  Green  Mount  to  Richmond,  in  which  city 
he  organized  the  Union  schools  and  became  their 
superintendent.  The  Supreme  Court  of  Indiana, 
through  its  representative,  Judge  Perkins,  crippled 
or  killed  the  public  schools  by  the  decision,  that  local 
taxes  levied  for  school  purposes  are  unconstitu- 
tional. His  schools  broken  up  at  Richmond,  Mr. 
Henkle  went  to  Indianapolis,  and  started  a  private 
academy. 

In  1856  the  first  number  of  the  Indiana  School 
Journal  was  issued,  with  Geo.  B.  Stone  as  editor-in- 
chief,  and  W.  D.  Henkle  one  of  the  associates. 
Stone  left  the  State  in  1858,  and  Mr.  Henkle  became 
the  editor.  But  the  educational  field  in  Indiana  was 
blighted  by  the  Perkins  decision.  Mr.  Henkle  said, 
with  dry  wit,  "  I  examined  the  Constitution  of 
Indiana  with  extra  care,  to  see  if  I  could  not  find 
some  way  of  getting  rid  of  Judge  Perkins's  decision. 
I  could  not,  until  I  found  that  emigration  from  the 
State  should  not  be  prohibited.  I  got  rid  of  the 
decision  by  coming  to  Ohio." 


262  ESSAYS 

The  autumn  of  1859  found  Mr.  Henkle  teaching 
mathematics  in  the  South- Western  Normal  School, 
at  Lebanon,  O.  The  "  University  Algebra  "  had  just 
been  issued.  It  was  the  privilege  of  his  classes  to 
use  that  exacting  text-book,  and  the  author  was  the 
teacher.  The  class  assembled  in  the  basement  room 
of  the  old  academy  building,  and  with  enthusiasm 
teacher  and  learners  went  through  the  book,  though 
not  many  of  the  learners  could  have  made  much  head- 
way without  the  guidance  of  the  master.  Guidance 
it  was,  and  that  merely,  for  Henkle  did  not  carry  his 
pupils.  He  marched  ahead,  showing  the  way,  blaz- 
ing now  and  then  a  tree  in  the  wilderness  of  diffi- 
culty, but  never  removing  the  knotty  logs  or  the 
thorny  underbrush.  If  at  times  the  students  lost 
sight  of  the  path,  they  felt  no  misgivings  in  regard 
to  their  leader's  knowledge ;  there  was  no  losing  him, 
however  labyrinthian  the  way. 

Mr.  Henkle  was  perhaps  at  his  best  in  Lebanon. 
He  was  past  thirty  years  of  age,  and  in  full  physical 
vigor.  He  surprised  the  students  on  the  play-ground, 
by  his  gymnastic  skill,  especially  by  his  jumping  and 
quoit-pitching. 

To  the  pupil  who  wished  to  learn  he  opened  the 
full  storehouse  of  his  mind  ;  but  he  was  not  distin- 
guished for  inspiring  the  sluggish,  or  sharpening  the 
dull.  While  patient  and  impartial  in  his  class  work, 
he  held  the  esoteric  opinion  that  not  all  who  had 
the  calling  of  students  were  elected  to  scholarship. 
And,  like  Confucius,  he  thought  it  waste  of  time  to 
"  carve  rotten  wood," 


MEMORIAL    ADDRESS  263 

His  chosen  disciples  worshipped  him.  A  true 
philomath,  he  stimulated  investigation  and  promoted 
acquisition.  Not  only  the  professors  and  pupils  in 
the  Normal  School  recognized  him  as  an  authority ; 
he  was  sought  by  the  best  intelligence  of  Lebanon 
and  of  Warren  County.  He  revived  the  Mechanics' 
Institute,  an  organization  that  had  been  famous  in  the 
days  of  Thomas  Corwin's  boyhood.  He  influenced  the 
press,  the  bar,  the  pulpit  of  Lebanon.  Not  the  less 
he  reached  the  very  rabble  of  the  street  ;  for,  like  a 
new  Socrates,  he  went  about  in  such  a  simple,  honest, 
candid  way,  that  he  won  the  confidence  and  esteem 
of  all. 

In  the  Normal  School  the  "  Test  Speller "  was 
evolved.  The  curious  lists  that  are  printed  in  that 
odd  book  were  pronounced  to  the  students  of  the 
Normal  School  long  before  Mr.  Henkle  had  an  idea 
of  publishing  them  for  general  use. 

W.  D.  Henkle  was  a  great  reader.  Not  con- 
tent with  grasping  the  general  scope  and  signifi- 
cance of  a  volume,  his  penetration  extended  to  the 
subtlest  thought  of  the  author,  while  he  took  note 
also  of  every  verbal  peculiarity,  and  of  such  mechan- 
ical items  as  most  concern  the  accurate  proof-reader. 
The  pages  of  his  books  are  marked  with  many  sym- 
bols, significant  to  him.  On  his  back  would  this 
omnivorous  reader  lie,  stretched  out  upon  a  lounge, 
with  his  book  held  above  his  face,  with  a  pencil  by 
his  side,  and  a  paper-knife  in  his  hand,  and  there 
would  he  read,  and  read,  and  read.  He  luxuriated 


264  ESSAYS 

in  the  Quarterly  Reviews,  all  of  which  he  took.  Any 
book  or  magazine  was  delightful  to  him.  The  idea 
of  dry  or  tedious  literature  he  could  not  conceive. 
He  bought  the  eighth  edition  of  the  Encyclopaedia 
Britannica,  and  this  vast  work  he  actually  read,  in 
regular  course,  omitting  only  the  minor  articles. 

Dr.  Mendenhall,  as  he  has  told  us  gracefully,  was 
attracted  to  Lebanon  by  the  fascinations  of  Henkle's 
tough  algebra,  and  the  fame  of  its  modest  author. 
E.  O.  Vaile,  nephew  to  Mr.  Henkle,  and  now  editor 
of  Intelligence,  was  for  a  time  a  member  of  the  house- 
hold at  Lebanon. 

In  1862  the  Republicans  nominated  Mr.  Henkle 
for  State  commissioner  of  schools,  but  at  the  elec- 
tion he  was  defeated  with  the  whole  State  ticket. 
After  the  campaign  he  became  superintendent  of 
the  public  schools  at  Lebanon. 

In  1864  he  received  and  accepted  an  invitation  to 
go  to  Salem,  Columbiana  County,  as  superintendent 
of  schools  there.  He  held  this  position  until  1869, 
when,  on  the  resignation  of  John  A.  Norris  as  State 
commissioner  of  schools,  Gov.  R.  B.  Hayes  appointed 
Mr.  Henkle  to  fill  the  vacancy  for  the  remainder  of 
the  term.  From  Columbus  he  returned  to  Salem, 
resuming  the  duties  of  superintendent  of  schools. 
About  this  time  he  began  the  publication  of  the  se- 
rial Notes  and  Queries.  In  1875  (September),  when 
Dr.  E.  E.  White  disposed  of  the  Ohio  Edticational 
Monthly  in  order  to  accept  the  presidency  of  Purdue 
University,  Mr.  Henkle  purchased  the  periodical, 


MEMORIAL    ADDRESS  265 

and  from  that  time  until  his  death  he  was  its 
editor. 

In  1868  Mr.  Henkle  was  president  of  the  Ohio 
State  Teachers'  Association.  He  was  a  prominent 
member  of  the  National  Educational  Association,  of 
which  he  was  the  secretary  for  six  years.  In  June, 
1876,  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Philosophy  was  con- 
ferred on  him  by  Wooster  University. 

Full  of  honors,  but  not  of  years,  he  died,  aged 
only  fifty-three,  at  his  home  in  Salem,  Nov.  22,  1881. 

At  the  beginning  of  his  last  illness,  his  wife  dis- 
covered him  lying  upon  the  lounge  in  the  library, 
and  on  the  floor  lay  a  book  which  he  had  just  been 
reading,  and  which  had  fallen  from  his  tired  hand. 

The  telegraph's  tongue  of  fire  told  the  sudden 
news:  "Henkle  is  dead!"  Ohio's  teachers  bowed 
and  wept.  We  had  not  thought  of  him  as  mortal. 

"  Oh,  what  hadst  thou  to  do  with  cruel  Death, 
Who  wast  so  full  of  life,  or  Death  with  thee, 
That  thou  shouldst  die  before  thou  hadst  grown  old  ?  " 

Few  had  thought  to  praise  him  in  his  lifetime, 
so  unobtrusive  was  his  serene  wisdom,  so  unassum- 
ing his  philosophic  repose.  As  soon  would  one  think 
of  praising  the  wholesome  air  or  the  starry  sky! 
But,  gone,  he  was  missed.  "  There  is  but  one  Hen- 
kle." 

Not  only  from  his  personal  friends  and  fellow- 
workers  in  Ohio  came  the  echo  of  sorrow  and  the 
tribute  of  admiration.  Wm.  T.  Harris  sent  his 
lament  from  Concord,  Mass.,  saying,  "I  am  one  of  a 


266  ESSAYS 

very,  very  large  brotherhood  of  educators,  living  all 
over  this  nation,  that  are  unspeakably  shocked  and 
pained  to  hear  of  Dr.  Henkle's  illness  and  death. 
He  was  universally  beloved  and  respected."  From 
Worcester  the  veteran  A.  P.  Marble  wrote,  "  Every 
word  of  eulogy  meets  a  response  in  my  heart ;  but 
they  all  fail  to  do  justice  to  the  noble  man  that  he 
was."  Mr.  Bicknell,  from  his  desk  in  Boston,  said, 
"We  shall  long  remember  his  noble  life  and  valuable 
services  for  education,  and  his.  place  none  can  fill 
with  equal  ability  and  fidelity."  And  from  Penn- 
sylvania, Mr.  Wickersham  sadly  voiced  a  general 
thought,  "The  National  Association  will  miss  him 
greatly  —  no  other  member  would  have  been  missed 
so  much." 

William  Downs  Henkle,  not  seeking,  won  his  high 
rank  by  doing  a  true  man's  honest  work.  In  a  world 
where  sham  often  seems  to  be  preferred  to  reality, 
it  is  comforting  to  note  a  marked  instance  in  which 
merits  such  as  his  are  recognized  and  honored.  Not 
for  his  education,  or  for  his  ability,  or  for  his  public 
services,  was  he  loved  chiefly,  but  for  his  humanity. 

The  range  of  Mr.  Henkle's  studies  was  wide,  and 
in  nothing  was  he  superficial.  As  a  mathematician, 
he  was  regarded  by  mathematicians  as  first-rate.  As 
a  linguist  he  was  proficient,  being  able  to  speak  in  five 
languages  and  to  read  in  nine.  So  extensive  were 
his  researches  in  philology  and  lexicography,  that  in 
these  and  kindred  studies  he  was  regarded  as  an 
authority,  even  among  specialists.  He  gleaned  from 


MEMORIAL    ADDRESS  267 

his  reading  many  words  not  found  in  the  great  Amer- 
ican dictionaries  until  he  added  them.  He  estab- 
lished the  pronunciation  of  many  words,  especially 
proper  names.  Professor  Marsh  of  Lafayette  College 
wrote  to  him,  "  I  do  not  believe  that  I  have  ex- 
pressed to  you  my  pleasure  at  the  introduction  of 
so  much  good  spelling,  and  so  good  rules  for  it,  into 
the  last  volume  of  the  American  Educational  Asso- 
ciation. We  are  much  indebted  to  you  for  that,  as 
for  so  many  other  things." 

The  minute  investigation  he  made  in  several  de- 
partments of  study,  particularly  in  grammar,  enlarged 
the  boundaries  of  exact  knowledge,  and  gave  impulse 
to  right  methods  of  research  among  teachers.  He 
did  not  concede  that  there  is  any  such  thing  as  use- 
less knowledge.  In  his  "  Educational  Notes  and 
Queries  "  he  did  what  perhaps  no  other  man  in  the 
United  States  was  capable  of  doing.  His  insatiate 
desire  to  ferret  out  final  facts  made  the  man  sui  gen- 
eris. At  one  time  he  became  interested  in  ascer- 
taining the  exact  pronunciation  of  the  names  of  fixed 
stars.  Exhausting  his  own  sources  of  knowledge,  he 
wrote  to  William  S.  Wheeler,  the  editor  of  Webster's 
Dictionary,  but  Wheeler's  vast  resources  could  not 
supply  the  desired  information.  Henkle  wrote  next 
to  W.  D.  Whitney,  who  replied  that  the  subject 
"floats  in  an  insoluble  uncertainty."  That  was  the 
very  reason  why  Henkle  desired  to  clear  the  matter 
up.  His  mind  could  not  rest  until  he  could  put  the 
proper  diacritical  mark  upon  the  name  of  every  star. 


268  ESSAYS 

His  curious  interest  in  facts  remotely  connected 
with  common  activity  did  not  prevent  him  from  at- 
tending to  affairs  familiar  and  practical.  While  he 
sought  the  names  of  the  stars  in  boundless  space, 
he  also  knew  how  butter  is  made,  and  what  variety 
of  potatoes  is  best. 

While  living  in  Salem  he  put  his  astronomical 
knowledge  to  practical  account.  He  announced  in 
the  town  newspaper,  "  I  have  established  a  true  me- 
ridian on  Lundy  Street,  by  observation  on  the  north 
star,  making  a  correction  for  azimuth/'  The  school 
clock  at  Salem  kept  true  time,  and  it  was  suggested 
that  the  mayor  order  the  town  bell  to  be  rung  on 
true  time.  Thus  would  Henkle  adjust  himself  and 
the  community  to  that  order  which  is  the  first  law  of 
the  material  heaven.  Let  us  be  right  by  the  north 
star. 

Scrupulous  accuracy  attended  him  in  his  travel, 
his  business  affairs,  and  in  all  his  habits.  His  wife 
says,  "Whenever  he  left  home  he  always  told  me  on 
what  train  he  would  be  at  home.  Even  if  he  were 
gone  for  a  week  or  ten  days  at  a  time,  he  would  tell. 
He  knew  the  railroad  lines  and  connections  so  well, 
that  when  he  went  to  Atlanta  last  summer  he  told  me 
when  he  would  be  at  home,  and  he  came  as  he  told 
me."  He  was  extremely  punctual  and  exact  in  all 
money  matters.  He  kept  himself  and  wife  supplied 
with  clean,  new  fractional  currency,  to  discharge 
every  score  to  the  cent,  and  on  the  second.  The 
north  star  of  undeviating  honesty  controlled  his 
transactions. 


MEMORIAL    ADDRESS  269 

His  painstaking  precision  was  visible  in  all  his 
private  affairs.  Mrs.  Henkle  says,  speaking  of  the 
condition  in  which  he  left  his  papers,  etc.,  "If  he  had 
arranged  his  business  with  a  view  of  leaving  it,  he 
could  not  have  clone  it  better." 

As  an  educator  Mr.  Henkle  was  practical  as  to 
what  he  advocated  and  what  he  did.  While  State 
commissioner  he  said  in  a  speech,  "  Not  much  legis- 
lation is  needed.  If  we  were  granted  three  things, 
we  would  not  ask  for  anything  more  for  fifty  years. 
First,  county  supervision.  Second,  abolition  of  the 
sub-districts.  Third,  a  State  normal  school." 

In  an  address  at  Sandusky  he  advised  the  teachers 
never  to  abandon  any  feature  of  instruction  simply 
because  it  was  old.  They  must  remember  that  it  is 
always  new  to  pupils.  Determine  what  is  proper  to 
infuse  in  your  schools  and  then  keep  it.  In  the 
same  address  he  said,  "  No  teacher  should  be  em- 
ployed on  account  of  sympathy."  Mrs.  Henkle  gives 
the  incident  which  perhaps  fixed  this  principle  in  his 
mind.  She  says,  "I  remember  at  one  time  when  he 
was  county  examiner  in  Warren  County,  a  young 
lady  was  trying  to  pass  the  examination.  He  was 
doing  all  he  could  to  give  her  time,  etc.,  and  she,  of 
course,  was  in  tears.  I  ventured  some  remark  in  her 
behalf.  I  shall  never  forget  his  reply,  nor  the  man- 
ner in  which  it  was  given.  I  do  not  think  that  I 
ever  knew  him  to  speak  with  so  much  force  or  feel- 
ing. "Don't  say  a  word  ;  I  see  the  little  children  all 
over  the  land  holding  up  their  hands  to  me  and  say- 
ing, 'Don't  send  us  such  teachers."1 


27O  ESSAYS 

In  his  inaugural  address,  before  the  State  Asso- 
ciation at  Dayton,  in  1868,  Mr.  Henkle  expressed 
tersely  what  may  be  regarded  as  the  fundamental 
philosophy  of  his  educational  belief.  "I  confess," 
he  says,  "I  have  no  great  admiration  for  the  word 
discipline  when  its  primitive  meaning  is  banished  to 
give  place  to  another.  Discipline  and  disciple  both 
have  their  root  in  the  Latin  discere,  to  learn,  and 
hence,  primitively,  discipline  is  learning.  I  firmly 
believe  that  if  the  ordinary  idea  of  discipline  were 
traced  critically  to  its  source,  it  would  be  found  to 
be  knowledge  —  a  knowledge  of  methods,  modes  of 
thought,  etc.,  as  contra-distinguished  from  the  sim- 
ple knowledge  of  facts  without  their  relations.  My 
opinion  as  to  what  we  should  learn,  to  be  thoroughly 
and  liberally  educated,  may  be  stated  as  follows  : 
As  discipline  is  a  knowledge  of  methods,  our  studies 
should  be  sufficiently  extended  to  embrace  all  species 
of  discipline.  This  is  the  ideal  towards  which  we 
should  approximate." 

There  was  a  flavor  of  rather  sweet  irony  in  Mr. 
Henkle,  and  a  rich  vein  of  humor.  He  was  the 
laughing  philosopher,  never  the  cynic.  He  distin- 
guished a  "joke  with  a  point  "  from  a  "joke  with  a 
sting,"  and  never  enjoyed  the  latter.  His  sense  of 
the  ludicrous  found  frequent  gratification  in  real  life 
and  through  books.  He  relished  reading  "Tristram 
Shandy"  and  "Humphrey  Clinker."  Sometimes  he 
amused  his  friends  by  giving  a  burlesque  lecture  on 
Spencerian  Penmanship,  illustrating  on  the  black- 


MEMORIAL    ADDRESS  27! 

board  with  hypercritical  discriminations  the  vital  im- 
portance of  slope,  shade,  and  terminal  curlycne. 
Sometimes  he  would  ridicule  the.  extravagances  of 
elocution  by  declaiming  in  the  prevailing  style,  but 
with  many  absurd  exaggerations  as  to  intonation, 
facial  expression,  and  gesture. 

Without  a  touch  of  affectation,  he  yet  had  personal 
eccentricities  that  often  turned  the  laugh  upon  him- 
self. Interested  in  conversation,  he  forgot  to  serve 
his  guests  at  his  own  table.  He  ate  mechanically, 
and,  after  dinner,  sometimes  asked  his  wife  whether 
he  had  eaten  or  not.  One  morning  he  came  to 
school  with  two  shirt-collars  on,  one  buttoned  out- 
side the  other. 

In  morals,  Mr.  Henkle  was  rigorous  with  himself 
and  exacting  of  others.  It  angered  him  to  see  men 
debase  themselves.  He  indulged  no  vice,  large  or 
small.  Temperate,  chaste,  pure  in  speech,  he  resem- 
bled the  Zarathustra  of  the  Persian  Bible. 

In  politics  and  religion  he  was  conservative.  His 
habit  of  uttering  paradoxes,  of  setting  half-forgotten 
truths  in  a  strong  light ;  his  love  of  the  curious  ;  the 
wide  range  of  his  information,  which  took  in  all  ages, 
nations,  and  creeds  ;  his  critical  faculty,  which  deemed 
nothing  too  high  for  its  exercise,  led  many  to  set 
him  down  as  much  more  radical  than  he  really  was. 
Conservative  himself,  and  holding  convictions  firmly 
settled,  he  yet  encouraged  controversy  on  all  sub- 
jects. Nothing  of  the  bigot,  nothing  of  the  dogma- 
tist in  him  ;  he  was  open  to  conviction  at  all  times. 


272  ESSAYS 

He  had  special  pleasure  in  discussion,  not  debate, 
with  clergymen  of  different  denominations.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Protestant  Church. 
Well  acquainted  with  the  arguments  of  materialism, 
he  did  not  consider  them  conclusive.  Believing  in 
evolution,  he  did  not  reject  the  First  Cause.  He 
revered  the  holy  Bible,  and  had  faith  in  the  efficacy 
of  prayer.  All  his  religious  views  and  observances 
partook  of  the  informal  simplicity  of  his  mother's 
Quaker  creed. 

Socially,  Mr.  Henkle  was  delightful.  Wherever 
he  went  there  was  good  society.  Never  to  be  for- 
gotten are  certain  golden  days  and  ambrosial  nights 
spent  at  the  hospitable  home  of  Hon.  J.  P.  Siddall 
of  Richmond,  Ind.,  when  Henkle,  Dr.  John  Hancock, 
good  old  Dr.  Hoshour,  A.  P.  Russell,  the  genial  au- 
thor of  "  Library  Notes,"  and  other  gentlemen,  with 
a  bevy  of  bright  women,  made  life  seem  not  only 
worth  the  living,  but  made  an  hour  seem  worth  a 
lifetime.  And  without  Henkle  these  rare  symposia 
could  not  have  been.  In  Lebanon  and  Salem  it  was 
the  same.  This  self-made  scholar,  this  serene  gentle- 
man, wherever  he  went  created  friends  and  made 
them  happy.  His  was  a  home-staying  heart.  His  so- 
journ at  Columbus,  away  from  his  family,  was  a  cross 
to  him.  Kate  and  Clara,  his  wife  and  daughter,  were 
his  angels,  — home  his  earthly  paradise.  He  writes  to 
Clara  from  the  office  of  state  commissioner,  Colum- 
bus, Nov.  30,  1869,  at  four  minutes  after  five,  Tues- 
day :  — 


MEMORIAL    ADDRESS  2/3 

DEAR  DAUGHTER  CLARA,  —  When  I  began  to  write  to  mamma,  I 
had  just  come  from  a  large  children's  meeting.  It  rained  when  I  went, 
and  was  raining  when  I  came  back.  There  were  present  a  great  many 
children,  come  through  the  storm.  Mr.  Chidlaw,  of  Cincinnati,  talked 
first,  and  then  Mr.  Moody,  of  Chicago,  the  latter  a  great  man  for  hold- 
ing children's  meeting.  Mamma  will  tell  you  what  the  latter  means. 
The  children  voted  to  have  another  meeting  to-morrow  or  next  day.  I 
have  not  seen  Cousin  Ed  yet.  He  was  at  the  lecture  last  night,  but 
I  did  not  see  him.  Mr.  Mendenhall  and  Brown  were  here  and  went 
with  me  to  the  children's  meeting. 

Last  Sunday  I  saw  a  little  girl  on  the  street  dressed  in  a  scarlet 
plaid  like  yours,  with  high  blue  shoes,  and  a  blue  hat  with  a  white 
feather.  A  man  was  with  her.  Do  you  think  that  man  washer  papa? 
I  do.  I  hope  you  are  getting  to  be  a  better  and  better  girl  every  day. 
I  will  see  how  far  you  have  read  when  I  get  home.  Remember,  you 
were  to  be  where  it  says,  "  I  saw  a  house  and  a  mill,"  or  something 
like  that.  I  must  close.  It  is  half-past  five  and  I  must  soon  go  to 
supper.  From  your  papa. 

Good  evening. 

Alas  !  good  evening,  thou  kindest  of  men  ! 

His  humanity  extended  to  dumb  animals.  The 
family  horse  always  showed  a  preference  for  him,  and 
the  household  cat  had  her  favorite  resort  near  his 
chair  in  the  library.  After  his  death  the  cat  con- 
tinued for  a  week  to  visit  his  room  and  to  lie  in  her 
customary  place,  but,  finding  at  last  that  her  master 
did  not  return,  she  came  no  more  to  the  empty  chair. 

My  task  is  nearly  accomplished.  Once  more  asso- 
ciation draws  us  to  the  library.  The  library!  In  it 
he  lived  ;  from  it  his  dead  body  was  carried  to  the 
grave.  His  life  was  consecrated  to  books.  Let  us 
name  him  Henkle,  the  Reader.  Would  you  see  the 
sacred  room  ?  the  place  of  study  ?  the  penetralia  of 


2/4  ESSAYS 

his  intellectual  life?  You  are  his  friends,  and  it  will 
surely  not  profane  my  trust  if  I  read  to  you  his  wife's 
touching  words :  — 

"  I  am  sitting  just  where  he  used  to  sit,  in  his  library,  at  his  table. 
Every  available  space  in  this  large  room  is  filled  to  the  ceiling  with 
cases  full  of  books.  Just  as  soon  as  Mr.  Henkle  was  dressed  he  was 
right  here  at  work.  Never  idle  one  moment.  His  last  entry  in  his 
written  catalogue  of  books  is,  Peck's  Ganot's  Natural  Phil.  Revised, 
Num.  4426.  His  books,  as  you  know,  were  accumulated  one  at  a  time. 
Sometimes  he  would  see  advertised  a  book  that  he  wanted,  and  would 
order  it,  and  after  long  waiting  it  came.  It  was  always  the  contents 
he  wanted  ;  he  cared  nothing  for  the  binding.  ...  I  wish  I  knew  just 
what  to  tell  you.  I  wish  I  could  tell  you  what  a  pleasant  home  he 
made.  He  was  always  pleasant.  Every  day  it  seemed  to  me  he  grew 
dearer  and  dearer,  —  we  lived  so  together  —  worked  together.  I  cared 
so  little  for  anything  so  he  was  at  home  with  me.  .  .  .  Always  the 
same  busy,  quiet  man,  but  so  bright  and  happy ;  often  has  he  spoken  to 
me  in  these  months  of  how  his  love  for  me  grew  as  the  years  went  by.  I 
think  you  will  not  think  me  foolish  in  telling  you  these  things.  .  .  . 
Yes,  it  is  hard  to  think  of  him  cold  in  death,  that  active,  cheerful, 
happy,  big-souled  man." 

So  speaks  his  wife,  out  of  the  fulness  of  memory 
and  love  and  devotion  and  bereavement.  Her  words 
are  the  appropriate  conclusion  to  this  memorial. 


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